No Longer Safe
by FairyTale
Summary: During Harry's 5th year he has to realize that even Hogwarts is no longer the ever-save fortress in the fight against the dark. But this time, the Death Eaters don't seem to search for him...Chapter 8 finally up!!!
1. Nightmares

Chapter One

It was dark and at first Harry did not really know where he was. He knew the place but memory came slowly. 

He was outside, that much was for sure, and it was night. There were other people, too, he could see them moving around him like shadows, but he could not stand it to watch them long enough to recognize one of them. Even though Harry knew he was wearing his glasses, it felt like watching the place with bare eyes. 

The conversation of the people around him also sounded like people talking underwater, but everything slowly became clearer.

Harry could spot stones standing around him, all of the same kind of shape. Between the stones, in a circle, stood the others, Harry was captured in their middle. Now their murmurs became audible, but all he could understand was one word.

"_Master"_

That word was repeated and repeated around him, like a chant. And then there was the laughter. Harry knew that high – pitched voice, all of a sudden he knew where he was and who was with him. 

He was on the cemetery where Tom Riddle's father was buried, and with him were the death-Eaters who had come to show their loyalty to Dark Lord Voldemort. Voldemort had risen again. It all came back to Harry like a thunder strike.  He had been in the Triwizard Tournament and hat touched the cup at the same time that Cedric Diggory had done so.

But someone had turned the cup into a portkey which had brought them to this place. Then Voldemort had performed a rite involving flesh, blood and bone to regain human shape. But before,…before that he had told Wormtail to kill Cedric. _'Kill the spare', that had been his words and then Wormtail had performed Avada Kedavra…_

'Oh god', Harry thought 'he has killed Cedric. I have to find a way to get back to Hogwarts. I have to tell Dumbledore, he will know what to do. I have to tell them about Cedric, I have to do something, get away, run…'

But his feet did not move. He wanted to run, but he could not. It was as if something held him, not something he could touch, but something that cut the connection between his brains that told him to run and his feet that did not move.

"There is no way out of here. You know that there is not. This, Harry, is connected to you in a way you can't even imagine."

Harry did not want to hear what Voldemort said, but he had no other choice.

"Harry Potter, so we meet at last. Thank you for giving me powers even stronger than those before our first meeting. It was your destiny to come and help me, but you shouldn't have brought him", with this he looked over to the body of Cedric lying motionless on the ground, "he must not have died. You shouldn't have brought him. 

Sharing the cup, hah! I'm afraid your generosity did not pay out for him, on the contrary it killed that poor little fellow. And now it is too late for you. You got nowhere to hide, and don't think that Dumbledore", he spit the headmaster's name out like something disgusting, "will come to rescue you. We are alone. You, me and my loyal servants,…"

And he started laughing again, even higher and more threatening than before. The laughter hurt Harry's ears, he felt that he was beginning to faint. Once again, like many times before, his scar hurt like mad. It made him feel even more numb. 

I have to get out of here', Harry thought. 'I have to find Dumbledore. Cedric is dead, Voldemort is back, he killed Cedric and it's all my fault!'

"Harry!"

"It's all my fault, Cedric is dead, oh my god, Cedric is dead, Voldemort killed him….."

"Harry! Harry! Wake up Harry!"

Someone shook him. Slowly Harry opened his eyes, afraid of what he would see. Again, the world was blurred and without clear shapes, but he realized quite soon that this time it was because he did not wear his glasses.

He started searching them with his hands, found them on the bedside table and put them on. The room was not his room at the Dursley's House in Privet Drive but he soon recognized it as Ron's. He was at the Burrow, now he remembered.

Ron was sitting on the edge of Harry's bed. One of his hands was still lying on Harry's shoulder where he had shaken Harry to wake him up. Though the room was quite dark Harry could see that the freckled face underneath the red hair looked concerned and worried.

"Are you okay? You've suddenly started screaming and I could not wake you up. It sounded horrible."

"I'm fine, thanks. Sorry that I woke you up."

"Sure you're okay, or do you want to talk about something?"

"Look, I've had a nightmare. Only subconscious digestion of yesterday's events. No wonder, I spent the entire day dodging the experiments and jokes of Fred and George, thinking about possible damages they could do to my health. That's all."

"Didn't sound like that, though."

The worried look still had not vanished from Ron's face.

"Ron, I want to sleep right now. I'm really sorry that I woke you up but the day after tomorrow we will leave for Hogwarts, as you know, so tomorrow is going to be a very busy day. We surely could do with some sleep, don't you think?"

Harry turned around to underline what he was saying, with this shaking off Ron's hand which still had been lying on his shoulder. Without another word, Ron stood up and returned to bed.

When Mrs. Weasly stepped into Ron's bedroom the next morning, Harry felt so tired he could not move at first. Last night it had not been easy to fall asleep again, he had been too afraid that Voldemort and the events after the Triwizard Tournament in the last year would sneak into his dreams again.

After he had dressed, he felt a little better and went down to have breakfast with the rest of the Weasly family. Ron didn't talk very much that morning.

Harry had been staying with the Weaslys for the last two weeks. Mrs. Weasly had invited him and the Dursleys of course had been very happy to get rid of Harry two weeks earlier than they had expected. So Harry had packed his robes, wand, books, quills and parchments into the trunk, and Mr. Weasly had fetched him up two weeks before the new school year in Hogwarts was about to begin. 

Before leaving he had set Hedwig (the snow white owl he had received from Hagrid, the Hogwarts gamekeeper as a birthday present) free and told her to come to the Burrow. Uncle Vernon had not allowed her to fly freely during the summer holidays because he had been afraid of what the neighbours would think if an owl flew in and out of their house. So Hedwig had been very pleased with her regained freedom and had thankfully nibbled Harry's ear before flying away.

Harry did not know exactly how Mr. Weasly had convinced the Ministry of Magic so that they allowed him to stay at the Burrow. After all that had happened at the end of the last year in Hogwarts, the Ministry had told Harry it was safer for him to stay with his relatives in the Muggleworld.

But that had not been much of a concern to him. He had been so exited to be with the Weaslys that he did not think of much else.

Mr. Weasly and Percy, the third of the six Weasly sons, who both worked for the Ministry had not been home very often, the entire Wizarding World was very busy and occupied in these days. 

So Harry had spent most of the time with his best friend Ron, Ron's two elder twin brothers Fred and George and the only Weasly daughter, Ginny, who was the youngest of the children.

Three days after Harry had arrived at the Burrow the second eldest brother Charlie had arrived surprisingly. He was working with dragons in Rumania, but had taken a little holiday at home, to heal his burnings as he said.

One day the entire family had travelled to Diagon Alley by floo powder to buy their equipment for the next year and, at least in the case of Fred and George, to look out for new ideas for their long planned joke shop.

When Harry stepped down into the kitchen, the entire family was already sitting on the breakfast table except for Percy and Mr. Weasly who had already left for work.

Harry was still tired and confused from the night before and therefore did not talk that much during breakfast. He also did not really listen to what was going on around him. 

Mr. Weasly again was telling the twins off for doing some kind of joke, but they did so all the time and being told off was something they were used to very well.

When they all wanted to get up to pack the rest of their things together, Mrs. Weasly kept Harry and Ron in the kitchen.

"I was asking myself whether you two could do me a little favour. Tomorrow, all of you will be leaving and there won't be anybody here to do this, so could Harry and you please de-gnome the garden for me? Your father is so busy at the moment and I have so much work to do I cannot find the time. Only yesterday evening I have realized those gnomes are really taking over the garden right now."

De-gnoming the garden was a very strange aspect of keeping a wizard household, at least in Harry's mind. It meant that you took the gnomes, carefully so that they would not bite, and throw them away as far as possible. It always took them a couple of days to find their way back. 

Harry nodded.

"Sure, I got nearly everything packed up, I can spare the time for it."

Ron agreed with him.

They were working silently, catching as many gnomes as possible and throwing them away. De-gnoming soon became a little dull if you didn't make it a competition, but after half an hour they were finished.

Ron turned to Harry.

"Fancy a little walk? I want to ask you something."

"Sure."

Harry felt a little odd about this, but Ron was obviously up to something and so they walked away from the house in silence.

After a couple of minutes, in which Ron seemed to be searching for the right way to put what was on his mind, he turned to Harry and asked:

"What is it that bothers you?"

"What do you mean?"

Harry tried to sound astonished, but he had expected something like this and did not feel very comfortable with the situation.

"You have been here for nearly two weeks right now. And you behave weird. You don't talk much; you always seem to be lost in thoughts. At night, you don't sleep but throw yourself around in bed. And if you fall asleep, you start mumbling weird things, then wake up and then it all starts again. It never was as bad as last night, but did you really think I would not notice that?"

"I really don't know what you are talking about. I have already told you that I had a nightmare last night, it is not as bad as you put it."

"So what did you dream about?"

"I've forgotten."

Harry tried not to look at Ron while telling this lie.

"Shall I tell you what you have been dreaming about?"

Harry stopped walking and looked at Ron, this time his astonishment was real.

"What do you mean?"

"Last night you spoke quite clearly in your dreams. You dreamt of You-Know-Who and of Cedric, and you yelled for help and said that it was all your fault, and so I thought that you might want to talk about it."

"Firstly, I don't know whether it's not you who has been dreaming last night and secondly I have already told you about Voldemort, Cedric and what happened after we touched the cup."

Harry sounded angrier than he had intended to, but he felt really insecure and didn't know how to react to what Ron had said.

Ron looked at him and his face wore the same expression it had worn the night before in the bedroom.

"I wasn't asking you to tell me last year's events once again, all I want to know is how you feel and what is worrying you. I mean, I just thought… I want to understand, that's all,… maybe I can even help you."

All of a sudden, Harry got really furious with Ron. 

What was he up to? 

Did he want to hear that Harry could not forget that he caused Cedric's death? That he blamed himself for it? 

Did he want to hear Harry tell how he relived that night again and again, lying sleepless in his bedroom in the Dursleys' house, always thinking 'What could I have done to save him'? 

And what would Ron want to do after he told him, say something like 'Yes, I understand the guilt you feel, how can I help you?'

It all broke out of him and he started yelling at Ron.

"Who do you think you are? You could never understand what's going on with me; you have never been through something like this. 

From the very first moment that I discovered I was a wizard, everyone told me that I was special and hardly anybody treated me normal. I had to bother with people like Malfoy and Snape who only hate me because of who I am. Worse than that I got involved into Voldemort's rise to powers again, I enabled him to do so. 

And I told Cedric to touch the cup with me together, it is my fault that he's dead right now, and all of this I had to face alone, I never had anyone to talk to at home.

So you want to understand how I feel? I tell you what, you could never understand it. You don't know what it feels like not to have parents or a family that loves you. You don't know what it feels like to have a godfather who is miles and miles away and cannot be with you because he is an escaped criminal who cannot prove he's innocent. 

And you don't know what it feels like to be guilty of someone's death. And you want to understand, you even want to help me? Who do you think you are?"

"I always thought I was your friend."

Rod said this, because at that moment it was all he could think of.

"I thought I was your friend."

Harry looked at Ron silently. Then he spoke.

"If you really were my friend, then you'd just leave me and stop bothering me. My life is miserable enough at the moment, I don't need you and your mother make arrangements to get me into talking about it. What is on my mind stays there until I decide to tell people, all right? So why don't we just go back to your house and finish packing our bags?"

With this, Harry turned around and walked back towards the Burrow. Ron, puzzled for a moment, went after Harry but made no efforts to catch up with him.

The rest of the day passed without anything else happening. Harry saw Ron and Mrs. Weasly exchange looks, as if Ron tried to tell her that talking to Harry had been no good idea.  
Harry kept silent for the rest of the day and went to bed quite soon.

When all bags were finally packed up, Fred's and George's most obvious hiding places for jokes were searched, Mr. Weasly had Ministry Cars bringing them to King's Cross Station the next day.

They set their bags on trolleys and passed the barrier to Platform Nine and three Quarters trying not to fetch the attention of Muggle passengers.

On the platform, Harry said goodbye to Mr. and Mrs. Weasly, thanking them for hosting his holidays.

"That's perfectly okay, my dear, you are welcome in our house at any time. And if there's anything you need, just tell Ron or send an owl. Have a lovely term and try to keep yourself out of mortal danger this time."

Mrs. Weasly kissed him on his cheek and then Harry climbed into the train, searching for an empty compartment.

"Harry!"

Harry heard Hermione's voice coming out of a compartment and opened the door. She sat there with Neville Longbottom, another Gryffindor fifth year who was often treated harshly by Professor Snape.

Harry lifted up his trunk into the luggage storage and seated himself next to Neville.

"Hi you two. How are you? Hermione, how was your holiday with Victor Krum? You didn't even send one owl!"

"I'm so sorry Harry, but I did not find the time. Bulgaria is quite a fascinating country concerning famous sights, especially the magic ones. I was really busy. Although I think, Victor wanted to get busy in another way. But, we cleared that issue, and in the end we spent a lovely holiday. How about yours?"

Harry laughed dryly.

"Another happy summer holiday at the Dursley's, including a forgotten birthday and of course, a lot of fun and play with Dudley. I spent my last two weeks with Ron, so it got better."

"Oh, Harry your birthday. I did not send you an owl because I didn't know whether it would stand flying the distance carrying your present, but I brought it with me. It's down in my trunk, I will give it to you when we arrive, okay?"

"Yeah, thanks." A birthday card or something else to show that Hermione had not completely forgotten his birthday would have been fine though, he thought.

At that moment, the compartment door slid open once more and Ron came in. He heaved his trunk onto the storage and then waved his parents goodbye out of the window. 

The train slowly moved out of the station, and they all sat down again when they had lost sight of the platform.

Ron started talking to Hermione about her holiday and to Neville about his summer at his grandmother's house. Harry pulled out a book and started reading.

"Harry!"

"What is it?"

"Even though I am happy that at least one of my friends has decided to read _'Hogwarts, A History' in the end, you do not seriously mean to read for the entire journey?"_

"I did not have much sleep during the last couple of nights and I'm really not in a talkative mood right now. Sorry."

With this, he looked back into his book again.

Nearly two hours passed and nothing happened. Harry read his book, or at least pretended to be reading, his thoughts slipped off from time to time, and the others talked about the last months in which they had not seen each other.

Harry closed his book and stood up.

"I'm going to walk around a little, need some movement." And he left.

Hermione looked over to Ron. "Please tell me what all this means."

Ron lifted his shoulders in a gesture to show his ignorance. 

"I really don't know."

"But you should, I mean you spent the last two weeks together, and he obviously doesn't talk to you, so what's happened?"

"Well, he has been kind of different than the Harry I know. Always lost in thoughts, you always had to tell him everything twice because each time he was somewhere else in his thoughts. Walked around like a loony. 

Worst of all were the nights. 

He thought I would not notice, but he found it hard to fall asleep. Threw himself around in his bed for hours, that's what he did. And when he finally dreamt, he always had nightmares. Each and every night he mumbled something and then woke up breathing hard not knowing where he was. That's what I suppose because he often woke me up with this. 

One night was worst of all. He spoke of what happened at the Tournament, of You-Know-Who and of Cedric. Said that it was all his fault that Cedric was dead and You-Know-Who had risen again. He screamed for help and I could not wake him up. It was really scary.

But Harry pretended that it was just a meaningless nightmare and that I was making things up. I wanted to talk to him the next day, but he told me off. Got really angry and shouted at me. 

He said that I could never understand him, the way he grew up without parents, the way he was treated as something special since he arrived at Hogwarts and that I could never understand what it feels like to have caused someone's death. 

He told me that if I was his friend I would leave him alone and that's exactly what I do now. Besides, he doesn't talk to me anymore since that."

Hermione and Neville stared at Ron in disbelief. "Doesn't sound very much like Harry," Neville said.

"Yeah, I know that, but he's been through a lot during the last year. I think he can't get along with it as well as he pretends, but I won't try to talk to him again, at least not in the next couple of days. Maybe he calms down when he's only back at Hogwarts."

Hermione, who had said nothing for a long time, looked at Ron. "But we can't just leave him like that for the rest of the term. Maybe I could talk to him…"

"Good idea, Hermione. He would only ask you where from you know about it, and it would all fall back to me. Give him a couple of days, maybe he will become normal again. And if not, you can say that you realized he behaved differently. Leave it on that."

"Okay, you might be right about this."

Harry meanwhile walked through the train, searching for a quiet place to think about what he felt. It turned out to be a difficult mission in a train full of students who were all exited about getting back to school. 

Here and there Harry met faces he knew, other Gryffindors, Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. He talked to a couple of them, but always left soon with an excuse.

He decided to look out for Cho, a now sixth year Ravenclaw whom he felt quite attracted to. She had been a close friend of Cedric, maybe even his girlfriend, Harry did not now that exactly. 

But he couldn't find her anywhere on the train. 'Strange', he thought 'how will she be coming to school then?' He asked a couple of other Ravenclaw girls, but they didn't know about her whereabouts either.

Finally, Harry went back into his compartment, took out '_Hogwarts, A History' again and started reading. He should have known the book by heart right now, because Hermione quoted it all the time. But he needed something to keep the others from talking to him._

The rest of the journey passed without anything happening. 

Malfoy shortly showed up at the compartment door, as usual accompanied by Crabbe and Goyle, but he only made some rude comments on Hermione and Ron and then left.

Strange but true he didn't even seem to notice Harry.

It had grown dark outside and the four friends had already changed into their school robes. The train drove more slowly right now and they would be soon arriving at  Hogsmeade station.


	2. Home (1)

Chapter Two

First thing Harry caught sight of when leaving the train at Hogsmeade station was the huge figure of Hagrid, the Hogwarts gamekeeper. Harry smiled and waved at him, and Hagrid waved back. He was too busy to bring the first-years to the boats, so Harry could not talk to him. 

"Come an' see me in my hut, will you Harry?"

"Sure, I'll try to come tomorrow."

Harry climbed into one of the coaches that brought the elder students from Hogsmeade to the castle, not taking care that he sat there with three Hufflepuff second-years that stared at him like they would possibly stare at a Norwegian Ridgeback.

Only now he realized how hungry he was and he was really looking forward to the feast. If only the sorting would not take too long.

Entering the castle was the only thing Harry had ever felt as 'coming home'. It would all turn out to become good, he told himself, it would all become better. He didn't believe himself.

The sorting took longer than Harry had expected it to. The hat seemed to take a lot more time for choosing the student's house than it had done in the year before. Harry felt like starving. He applauded when somebody was chosen to be a Gryffindor, but he really didn't care who was coming to their house and who was not.

Finally, the sorting was over and Albus Dumbledore rose from his seat at the teacher's table.

"Well, now that our first years have found a seat at one of the tables, I welcome all of you to a new year at Hogwarts. I know that all of you will be very hungry, so I'll leave you now with the food. I have some announcements to make, but they can wait until after dinner."

He sat down again, and as Harry looked back onto the table, it had filled with food. Turkey, mashed potatoes, chips, stew, a lot of plates with hot food were standing in front of him and he finally stilled his hunger.

Dinner lasted long, and only as the last students had finished their plates, Dumbledore rose again. The food on the tables vanished and everybody was looking to the teacher's table watching Dumbledore.

"As you are now all well fed as I hope I welcome you to another year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. As I said, there are a few announcements I have to make."

At that moment, the doors of the great hall opened and Filch came in with a girl that seemed to be only slightly older than Harry and his friends. She was quite tall, with brown hair and, as far as Harry could see, dark brown eyes. She somehow seemed known to him, but he could not recall where he knew her from. But when Harry saw the man who was walking behind her, he didn't pay any more attention to the girl. 

Professor Lupin was back in Hogwarts again.

"Ah, thank you Filch. Just in time. My dear students, most of you will still remember Remus Lupin, he has already taught most of you in Defence Against the Dark Arts two years ago. I'm glad to announce that he has agreed to come back and teach for another year."

The Great Hall burst into applause. Everyone remembered Lupin, of course, and most of them had considered him the best Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher they ever had. 

Lupin had been a werewolf since he was a kid, but if Professor Snape brewed him a certain potion, he was harmless around full moon. 

Two years ago, however, he had to leave school exactly because of this fact.

Harry could not do but watch over to the Slytherin table, where Draco Malfoy sat. Malfoy seemed not too pleased at all, and Harry could imagine quite well that he would complain about this. Draco Malfoy and Professor Lupin had not gotten along that well with each other, and Malfoy obviously always thought he could rely on the influence of his father.

But Harry was sure that Dumbledore had taken precaution for the case of such an interference when he had hired Lupin. Maybe Lupin had returned because Dumbledore wanted him around with Voldemort out there making plans. Harry was quite sure about this, he would discuss it with Ron and Hermione later.

"Please, if you give me only a few minutes more. I have some more things to say."

Lupin sat down at the teacher's table, the only empty seat had been left on the side of Snape who obviously didn't share the excitement about the return either.

"Due to the tragic events on last year's Triwizard Tournament and because of the tragic death of Cedric Diggory, the parents of one of our students have decided to take her from school. We have arranged a little exchange. Cho Chang has left the school and now visits Beauxbatons School of Witchcraft. In exchange, one of Beauxbaton's students will be with us for at least one year. Please give her a warm welcome and lend her a helping hand whenever needed. Please welcome Samantha Lewis, who will now be sorted into her house."

The hall applauded, but with hesitation. 

Harry felt as if somebody hat hit him very hard on the head. Cho had left? She didn't come to Hogwarts anymore? She had simply left? He couldn't believe it. He had really been looking forward to seeing Cho again, he really liked her. And besides, she was really attractive. How on earth could she leave when he had just come to the decision to invite her for a date? 

'Really great, Potter', Harry thought 'once you start thinking about getting yourself a girlfriend and then she leaves your life. Add it to your list of inadequacies.'

Professor McGonagall brought back the sorting hat and Samantha sat down on a chair in front of the entire school. She didn't seem to be nervous. When the hat was placed on her head, it seemed to think for a moment and then called "Slytherin!"

Harry looked over to Snape, who was the head of Slytherin house. Quite to his surprise, Snape appeared to be angry and dissatisfied with this decision.

Once more, Dumbledore rose to his feet.

"One last moment of silence, if you allow me. We all know what happened at the end of last year. We also know that there are evil works going on outside of these grounds and plans are made. Though the ministry doesn't consider it necessary because the don't believe the accounts on the Dark Lord, I have taken some security means. 

No walking outside the castle walls after nightfall, no exceptions made. Teachers are guarding the ground at that time. General curfew is at 9.00 p.m., whether it is still light or not, no one is allowed out of their common room after that time without a very good reason.

Everyone who comes to late to classes will be searched after by Mr. Filch and the teachers immediately, so avoid being late for class without telling somebody.

Everything exceptional is to be reported to the heads of the houses, the prefects or directly to me, which way ever you prefer. 

We might be able to loosen those restrictions, but that will show. Until then, rule breaking will be punished a lot harder than in the years before, so think about it.

Nevertheless, I wish a successful year to each and every one of you. Now it seems to be time for you to go to your dormitories, your prefects will lead you there. Schedules will be handed out tomorrow morning at breakfast. Good night to you all!"

Everybody stood up and the mass of students streamed towards the doors. Harry didn't try to get out fast, he was still thinking about Cho and why she did not return to Hogwarts. He was one of the last to leave the Hall and just wanted to climb up the staircase towards the Gryffindor tower, when someone called him.

"Harry, wait!"

Professor Lupin walked towards him.

"Harry, please come with me. I want to show you something in my office."

"Can't that wait until tomorrow, Professor? You see, I'm glad you're back, but I'm tired and after all that Professor Dumbledore said about the curfew and breaking the rules, I don't want to be the first one who is thrown out of school."

"Dumbledore knows about this, so there will be no problem. I take you up to my office and later I will guide you to your common room. Professor McGonagall also has been informed, so there won't be any problems for you, believe me."

Harry nodded. 

"Well, if it's okay with them, then I will come."

They climbed up a staircase and walked down a corridor, when Harry decided to ask Lupin what was on his mind.

"Professor, did Dumbledore ask you to come back because of Voldemort, and because hardly anybody at the Ministry believed me that he has come back?"

Lupin looked at Harry.

"Something like that. He sent Sirius to me in the summer, and we have developed something like a strategy. No, that's the wrong expression. We talked about possibilities and how we can be prepared for the worst. We called old friends of whom we know that they believe us and fight on our side. And we developed things like emergency plans. But yes, he asked me to come back to Hogwarts in case that against all reason something happens here."

They reached a door, and Lupin unlocked it. 

"I'll fetch you in fifteen minutes", he said and gave Harry a soft push inside. Then he locked the door from the outside again.

Harry stared at the door in disbelief. Why had Lupin brought him here, just to lock him up? What did that mean?

"Hello Harry."

Harry spun around.

"Sirius?"

His godfather was sitting on the chair behind Lupin's desk and smiled at him. 

He looked better than the last time Harry had seen him, he didn't look as worried as he had been when sitting in the hospital wing beside Harry's bed. His hair was cut, his face clean-shaven and he had gained some weight so he didn't look as gaunt as he had done before. He now resembled the only picture Harry possessed from him, the best man on the day of his parent's wedding.

Sirius got up and walked over to Harry.

"Surprise!" he said and embraced his godson.

Harry remembered how often he had wished Sirius to be with him during the last summer. He had written him a few letters, but the answers had always been short. Now that he was there, Harry wanted to tell him everything that weighed heavily on him. He felt tears coming to his eyes and let out a sob of relief.

Sirius was startled by this and hugged him more tightly.

"Harry, what's wrong? Tell me."

"Nothing, I just had a really hard summer and no one to talk to, I didn't know when I would be seeing you again and now you are here. I had just not expected you to be here."

He freed himself from Sirius' arms and wiped away his tears. Sirius looked worriedly at him.

"Don't look like that. I was just so surprised that you were here. I'm all right, I just need some time for myself and maybe someone to talk to, I will be fine, believe me.

The more important matter is: What are you doing here? You are supposed to be hiding from the Ministry, not making a visit at the place you are expected to come first."

"Answer me one question, Harry. Where is the best place to hide something?"

"What do you mean? Are you talking in riddles from now on? You hide something where you think no one would look after it."

"And where is the best place for that?"

"No, wait. You are not going to tell me that you will hide in Hogwarts because everybody expects you to show up here?"

"Something like that, though not quite exactly. 

Remus is not living here in school but rent a house on the edge of Hogsmeade, and that's where I'm staying. No one will suspect a Hogwart's Professor and his dog to be escaped criminals. 

I won't show myself at school, but you will be able to visit me from time to time. I wanted to be close to you because I fear that Voldemort will not watch Dumbledore fight him but try to strike back on him. So if something happens at Hogwarts I will be able to be here. 

Besides, no one but you, Hermione, Ron, and some teachers know that I'm an animagus and therefore I can hide quite easy with the support of Remus."

"Snape knows that you're an animagus."

"Still don't trust him, do you? Look, I don't like Severus and you know why it is like that. But Dumbledore trusts him and that is enough for me to trust him, too. And, I can guarantee you one thing: especially Professor Snape has no interest that something happens here at school. He surely wants no harm done here this year."

Harry didn't understand.

"What do you mean?"

"I can't tell you what, but I ask you to believe me that there will be no problem with Voldemort that is caused by Snape. And don't you worry too much, we do not know what Voldemort is up to so everything we do here is only precaution. There's no need for panic as there is no actual threat. Okay?"

"Right. I'm glad you're here Sirius."

They heard a knock on the door and then a key was turned around in the lock.

Professor Lupin stood outside of the room, looked at Harry and said "I think I'll better guide you up to your dormitory now, Harry."

"Okay." He looked over to Sirius. "Bye then."

"Bye. If you want to talk, then send an owl or give Remus a message and wait for an answer. I know that I cannot prevent you from telling Ron and Hermione about me, but please, whatever happens, do not sneak out to see me. It would only endanger you and me."

He hugged Harry once again.

"Right. Bye."

"Bye."

Remus turned to Sirius. "I will be back in a couple of minutes, then I'll bring you to the passage for Hogsmeade. I'll lock the door again."

"Okay."

Harry and Lupin walked down the corridor.

"I think I must thank you for this. It feels good to have him around."

"To be honest, I don't like it. Don't get me wrong, of course I like having him around. I'm glad that I know where he is and that he's doing fine, and I really think that he is a big support if the worst we expect becomes truth, but I don't like the fact that he is endangering himself by being so close to Hogwarts. 

The Ministry is still looking out for him. Even Dumbledore told him it was still risky, but we could not talk him out of it. 

You're lucky, Harry Potter, to have somebody who cares so much for you that he risks his own life for being there in case you need him."

Harry stopped.

"I don't want him to risk his life just for me. I will tell him to leave." 

Harry wanted to turn around but Lupin held him back.

"Sorry, Harry. I didn't want to give you pangs of conscience. We do anything so that he is not discovered. Believe me, you don't have to worry about him. As long as nothing unusual happens, it'll be fine. And we have emergency plans, just in case. 

But remember what he told you: tell no one but Hermione and Ron and make sure no one finds out. Do not try to meet him without telling me or sending an owl to him. And wait for the answer. Don't go wandering around on your own, understand?"

"Yes, I understand."

They reached the portrait of the fat lady.

"Oh no, I don't know the password, and everybody is already inside."

"Password is 'mashed potatoes'" The portrait swung open and Harry turned around towards Lupin.

"Thanks again. Good night."

"Good night Harry."


	3. The Lauretius Potion

Chapter Three

Harry found the Gryffindor common room almost empty, only a few students were still sitting beside the fire.

Fred and George were just about to get up and go to bed, their friend Lee Jordan joined them.

Only Ron and Hermione were left after they went away. Hermione looked up to Harry.

"Harry, where have you been? Have you been crying? What's happened?"

"Nothing serious. I will tell you in a minute."

He looked through the common room and made sure that nobody was there to hear him.

Then he sat down beside his friends.

"Harry, what's wrong? You behaved strangely for the entire day and now you just vanish after dinner. I told Professor McGonagall, but she said it was okay and that you were with Lupin."

Harry started talking in a low voice.

"Firstly, I think I have to apologize for my behaviour today. I have not been myself, I had to think about a lot of things.

Then I heard that Cho doesn't come back this year, just after I had decided that I would ask her out for a date. 

But everything seems to become better. After dinner, Lupin took me to his office, he said that he wanted to show me something.

Then he pushed me into his office, locked the door behind me and told me he would be back in fifteen minutes."

"What was that good for? What was in that room?"

"Sirius."

"What?"

"Shhh, you don't want anybody to hear that, do you? No one is supposed to know. Sirius was in Lupin's office and I could talk to him for a while. He's staying at Lupin's house in Hogsmeade for the entire year!"

"Quite risky, don't you think?"

 "Yeah, that's the problem. Lupin told me that they wanted to talk him out of that idea, but he said he wanted to stay here because of me. Just in case that something happens at Hogwarts. 

But he's hiding, he won't show at the castle and not in the village, at least not in human shape. And I can visit him at the Hogsmeade weekends and send him messages through Lupin. I just feel good now that I have somebody around who takes care of me."

"It's not as if you had no one even without Sirius. We care about you just as well."

It was Ron who had said that, and Hermione nodded in agreement.

"I'm sorry. I didn't want to say that you don't care about me. But, understand, I never had an adult who looked after me for my entire life. No parent who felt responsible, and now I have something of that kind around me. That's what I meant. I know you both care for me and I'm really thankful for that, believe me."

"Right, I didn't mean to offend you, I just wanted to tell you that we're there if you need someone to talk to, or to listen to you. Just want you to remember that."

"Sure, I know that, thank you. But I've been through quite a hard time, and maybe I need some space of my own. Don't be offended, please."

"It's all right."

Hermione stood up.

"I think we better all go to bed right now. Lessons start tomorrow, and this year is going to be important."

Ron looked up.

"Thanks to Merlin that some things never change. Hermione is back at school again!"

"Shut up Ron. Good night you two."

"Good night Hermione."

"Good night."

They left for their dormitory. On their way up, Harry held Ron back in the middle of the staircase.

"I didn't want to say this in front of Hermione, but I'm really sorry about what I said to you yesterday. I was upset, and I really didn't want to talk about it. This had nothing to do with you, okay? I,…I sometimes just don't know…"

Ron interrupted him. "It's okay Harry. No need to explain yourself, just keep in mind that you can talk to me whenever you want to, all right? You said you're sorry, and your excuse is accepted. I'm happy that you're feeling a little better now."

"You know what? I'm glad I've found a friend like you."

"Harry?"

"Yes?"

"Please do me one favour. Don't try to make out everything on your own. You know, sometimes even a Harry Potter is allowed to be weak. You have friends, you can rely on us."

Harry looked into his friend's eyes. "I'll try. Thank you."

Ron checked his watch. "We'll better go to bed now. Lessons start tomorrow, and I don't want to miss one minute of this important year."

"Ron, could _you do me one favour?"_

"Sure, what?"

"Never talk like Hermione again. I really like her, but I could not stand two of her kind around me."

They burst into laughter, for the first time since months, Harry laughed freely.

He went into the dormitory, undressed and lay down on his four poster. Before he fell asleep, he thought 'Well, I'm home again.'

Harry slept deep that night and didn't wake up once. Also for the first time since months.

The next morning, Harry woke up early, dressed himself and went down to breakfast. Hermione was already sitting there.

"Morning Hermione"

She looked up from the parchment she had been reading.

"Morning Harry. Where's Ron?"

"Still in the dormitory. He cannot find his quill, but he should be here in a minute."

"Well, you both will be glad that I fetched schedules for you just as well. And you will be more than glad that Monday morning starts with double potions, as usual together with the Slytherins."

"Oh no! Not on Monday morning, please."

Ron arrived at the table and sat down. He had only heard what Harry had said last and asked "What?"

"Monday morning, first lesson double potions with the Slytherins."

"Oh no!"

"Just what I said."

"He gave us so much to learn over the holidays, I don't know whether I can recall everything. Besides, I thought that Dumbledore asked him to leave and do something at the end of the last term. I had supposed that Snape was joining the Death Eaters again to spy at them."

Harry looked up from his porridge.

"Well, maybe he has been with them. I don't really want to know. But there's something I didn't tell you last night. When I talked to Si…, Snuffles" he said, referring to the nickname Dumbledore had given Sirius at the end of last term, "I told him I was  worried that Snape could be a spy. You know what he answered? He said that _especially Snape had an interest that nothing happened at school this year. Now is that strange or what?"_

Ron and Hermione looked at him. 

"Yes", Hermione said "but why should he emphasize it like that? Why should he care more than in the last years? What's different about Snape this year?"

"I don't know", Harry said. "But if we don't hurry up, we will have no chance to find out, because we get thrown out of school for being late for potions."

"Shit, and I haven't even had breakfast yet." 

"Well Ron, at least you've found your quill, so you can copy everything down in potions."

"Thank you Hermione, that will be very helpful when I'm dying of starvation while writing down ingredients."

So they left the Great Hall, Ron still fuming about having missed breakfast on his very first day back at school, and headed for the dungeons.

Though it was already very warm outside for a September morning, the dungeons in the castle were as cold as usual. The three sat themselves at the very back of class, Ron pairing with Harry as usual and Hermione sitting down next to Neville Longbottom. Poor Neville feared Professor Snape, the Potions master, more than anybody in school and the fact that Potions was Neville's worst subject in school did not improve his situation. Snape used every opportunity to bully the Gryffindor, especially since he had heard about an event in their third year, when Neville's Boggart during the Defence against the Dark Arts lesson had turned into Professor Snape. Neville had, to make the boggart look ridiculous, dressed it in his grandmother's clothes. News about this event of course had spread around the castle and Snape obviously didn't approve being the subject of the student's laughter.

Neville already was shaking with fear again, despite Hermione's attempts to calm him down and to tell him that this year might improve compared to the years before.

"Well mudblood, if I were you, which is most fortunately not the case, I would not waste my time on this squib but look after myself, you know. There's forces out there which surely don't approve mudbloods being taught in wizard schools."

The familiar sneer of Draco Malfoy made Hermione look up. The Slytherin was about to pass her table, as usual guarded by Crabbe and Goyle, to take a seat in the front row of the class.

Before Hermione could say something in return, Ron had gotten up. He was so angry, the colour of his face now nearly matched his red hair.

"Shut up Malfoy, or I will make you!"

"Oh, that should be interesting. How exactly are you planning to do this, Weasel?"

Ron pulled out his wand, but at that moment, Snape entered the dungeons and the door closed behind him loudly.

"Sit down!", he barked into the direction of Malfoy and Ron without taking more than a short glance on what was going on. "Mr. Weasly, I do not approve students threatening others with their wands in my class. Ten points from Gryffindor!"

Ron wanted to defend himself, but Harry pulled him onto his seat. 'No use' he mouthed towards his friend.

Of course, contradicting Snape was a useless effort unless you weren't a Slytherin, so Ron sat down and stared at his cauldron.

"This year we will make a step towards more dangerous potions and towards their antidotes. Of course I am aware that not everybody here in this room will be able to prepare those delicate and complicated potions, but I'm afraid you all will have to try. At least it promises to become a term in which we will face interesting results. Though I don't know why I still have to bother with hopeless students such as can be found in this class." His eyes shifted towards Neville who lowered his head, obviously even more discouraged than before.

"Well, today we will start with the Lauretius Potion, a very useful memory potion. The one who drinks it will find his memory erased, it depends on the amount of potion taken for how long backwards this wipe out reaches.

You find the receipt for this potion on the blackboard, the ingredients which cannot be found in your potions supply will be handed out by me. At the end of this lesson, I will chose one student who will drink another one's potion", his eyes shifted back towards Neville and the whole class swallowed hard, "and we'll see if the potion was prepared correctly. The antidote will be handed out by me afterwards.

You will work with the person sitting next to you, except that I will split up Mr. Longbottom and Ms. Granger. He won't learn anything as long as she is giving out instructions to him. Ms. Lewis, change your seat with Ms. Granger please."

Hermione sighed and got up, seating herself next to Pansy Parkinson whom Samantha had intended to work with. Samantha though showed none of the usual Slytherin arrogance when confronted to working with a Gryffindor.

The entire class became quiet and started to work. Harry copied down the receipt from the blackboard while Ron started chopping the dandelion roots into small pieces. As the water in the cauldron started to boil, they added the dandelion together with some frogspawn and stirred the liquid for two minutes. Then they added spider legs, rose thorns and the rest of the required ingredients and waited for their potion to thicken. It would take fifteen minutes before they could add two laurel leaves, take the dandelion out again and boil the potion to a certain temperature in order to finish it.

Harry took the time to glance around in the classroom while he tidied up their desk. 

Malfoy seemed to have finished his potion as well for he was engaged in a discussion about Quidditch with Crabbe. All the others still seemed to be working, especially Neville and Samantha. Their potion had turned brown which was not supposed to be the case. Neville was looking panic-struck from the receipt to the ingredients on the table and back again, trying to figure out what he could have done wrong. Samantha just shook her head.

"Longbottom! Lewis! What is that supposed to be? Let me guess, Longbottom, you added the Laurel before you set the potion to simmer? Can you never do anything right, it's clearly written down on the blackboard that you should add it last! Can't you even read? Ten points from Gryffindor. Now, look up on page 74 of the book on my desk how to save what's possible from your potion. If you do it right, it will still become a memory potion. We'll try yours on Mr. Potter at the end of class, you surely would not want him to suffer a painful death would you? If not, then pay attention to the instructions and to what you're doing."

Harry's stomach contracted. He should have known that Snape would try the potion on him. He really liked Neville, but his potions always were a complete mess and trying one of them was close to committing suicide.

He checked his own potion while Snape made his way around class, correcting the Gryffindors wherever possible and giving points to the Slytherins for not blowing up the dungeons as it seemed.

When he reached Harry's and Ron's cauldron, Harry was sure that though their potion seemed to be all in order, Snape would find something about it.

"Weasley, Potter, for your abilities a respectable effort, but the potion should be more liquid. You should pay more attention to what you are doing."

He turned and strode off towards his desk.

"Class, your potions should be ready by now. Let's see if Mr. Longbottom has been able to follow my instructions. Mr. Longbottom, Mr. Potter, come up here."

Harry slowly got up and stepped in front of class. He took the goblet Neville offered him and was quite relieved to find the potion exactly the same colour as his. He breathed in heavily, and swallowed the potion. It burned his mouth and throat and his head got dizzy. Harry closed his eyes and felt that he drifted away. 'No, I won't faint in front of the class, I won't faint in front of Snape.' He thought to himself. His mind drifted away from that thought and when he opened his eyes he found himself lying on the floor _'Why am I not in bed?' and looked up to the ceiling __'Why is it already so light outside?'._

He rose at an instant.

"Ron, why didn't you wake me up? It's already light outside and Snape that slimy git is surely going to kill me if I'm late for potions!"

The first thing he saw when he rose up were the smirking faces of Snape and Draco Malfoy. Snape spoke.

"Well, obviously the potion has worked. Ten points off from Slytherin. Ms. Lewis, I would have expected better from you then hissing the right instructions at Mr. Longbottom. He would have never been able to do that potion on his own. And fifteen points from Gryffindor for insulting a Professor."

He rose up.

"Class dismissed. Potter, stay here, I will give you the antidote."

"But, where am I? Why am I not in Gryffindor tower?"

"You will know as soon as you've taken the antidote. Now get up or I will take more points from Gryffindor for having a nap in my class."

Harry took Ron's outstretched hand and rose to his feet, then slowly stepped over towards Snape's desk. He took the glass phial out of Snape's hands and swallowed its content. Surely Snape would not try to poison him in front of Ron. After he had swallowed the liquid, his memory came back to him like a thunder strike. He blushed and turned away from Snape's desk, quickly collecting his ingredients into his cauldron and left the dungeon.

"Ron, why didn't you do anything to prevent me from calling Snape a slimy git? He looked as if he wanted to kill me."

"What could I have done?" Ron shrugged. "All the Slytherins gathered around you when you woke up, and you started talking straight ahead. I could not have done anything. But,…have you realized that Snape took off points from Slytherin?"

"What???"

"Yes, he took off points from Samantha for helping Neville with the potion. If he had done so in Hermione's case, I would have understood, but Samantha is Slytherin…"

Harry simply shook his head an the two boys headed off towards History of Magic.

When the came into the Great Hall for lunch, the news that Snape had taken points off Slytherin had already spread around school. Neville was treated like some kind of hero by the Gryffindors for it had been him whom Samantha had helped. 

Samantha sat quietly at the end of Slytherin table, avoiding the gazes of her housemates. She didn't seem to be pleased with what had happened at the dungeon and her fellow Slytherins showed her that they didn't approve helping a Gryffindor at all.

Hermione looked over to her.

"Poor girl. Obviously she doesn't know what the Slytherins are like and now she has to learn the hard way."

Ron choked on his ham and chicken pie.

"Hermione, you surely don't feel pity for a Slytherin! Maybe she has cost them some points, but I bet this will have been the last time she has offered help to one of us. Malfoy and the rest will see to that. As soon as she has brought one of us into trouble, they will all love her, so please don't start pitying her."

Hermione shook her head and returned to her dinner.

"What do you intend to do this afternoon? Maybe we could go and see Hagrid in his hut after Transfiguration, what about that?" Harry intended to end the quarrel between Ron and Hermione immediately.

"Sure." Ron nodded at Harry, his mouth full of mashed potatoes.

"I don't know, I've got Arithmacy homework to do and I wanted to got to the library…"

"Hermione, it's our first day back here, surely this can wait until tomorrow."  
"Okay Harry, I'll come along. Let's meet at four thirty in the entrance hall, then I can have a quick check to the library before."

She nodded at her friends and rose.

"Yeah, have a quick check whether there are any new books she hasn't read so far. I'll never understand her, you know?"

Ron turned towards Harry who was smiling at him.

"Hey, what's up? Why are you smiling like that?"

"It's just that I'm wondering whether there is more behind that constant quarrelling between Hermione and you."

"Anything more?" Ron blushed. "Like what?"

"Like a you two having a crush on each other maybe?"

"What? You're nuts!"

Dean Thomas, who had overheard the last sentences of their conversation, turned towards them.

"Ron has fallen for someone? Whom? Go on, tell me, please!"

"Nobody, Harry is making things up. He's had all his memory erased just this morning and now he thinks he sees the world through different eyes."

Ron got up and left the hall for Transfiguration, Harry at his heels.

"Ron, wait!" Harry caught up with him. "I didn't mean to upset you, believe me. It just occurred to me that there might be something between you and…"

"Yeah, and you wanted to discuss it right in front of the entire school, how very kind Harry."

"I'm sorry Ron. Won't mention it anymore, I promise."

Ron grunted something and headed off towards their classroom. He didn't seem to be angry with Harry, but the mere fact that Dean had already told all fellow Gryffindors about Ron's secret crush to someone when they arrived at class made Ron laugh quite nastily when Harry turned his hedgehog into a creeping paper creature with spikes rather than into a book.

"Well Harry, it might be one of the books Hagrid would give to us, you know?"

"Oh shut up Ron!"

When Transfiguration was over they met with Hermione in the Entrance Hall and walked over the lawn towards Hagrid's hut at the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

"What's up with you two? Has something happened after I left lunch, you behave strangely."

"Nothing Hermione. Ron and I just didn't share opinions on a certain matter."

"Which matter?"

"Oh Hermione, don't ask. Boy's stuff, you know." Ron blushed and turned away from her while Harry could hardly prevent himself from starting to giggle.

Hermione shook her head, hoping that this would not continue for the rest of the school year.

When they knocked on Hagrid's door, he opened and beamed at them.

"Ah, knew ya would com an' see me. Com in, sit down. I'll make some tea. Would ya like som biscuits?"

The three shook their heads in refuse, knowing that baking was not one of Hagrid's stronger abilities.

"How has ya first day back been?"

As they told him about what had happened that morning in Potions Class, Hagrid shook his head.

"Poor Neville. Been thru enough if ya listen to me. No need to bully him like Snape's doin'."

"Hagrid, what do you know about Samantha Lewis?"

Hagrid chocked his tea, coughed and looked at Harry, Ron and Hermione.

"Why do ya wan' ter know?"

Harry, who was puzzled by Hagrid's reaction, answered.

"Because Snape didn't seem to be too pleased when she was sorted into Slytherin and only this morning he took points off from Slytherin because she helped Neville. He has never before taken points from his own house, no matter what they've done. I was just wondering whether you've been told why she left Beauxbatons and came to Hogwarts. Do you know anything about her?"

"Ay Harry, ye're askin' far too many questions. She's bin brought here in exchange for Cho. Snape maybe just wanted to teach her a lesson fer helping a Gryffindor. Ya know what he's like. Ye're makin' things up Harry."

Harry didn't believe Hagrid but nodded and soon they were engaged in a discussion about their holidays and plans for the next weeks. After nearly two hours, they said good bye to Hagrid and headed off towards the castle again.

"Hagrid's not telling the truth about Samantha. He nearly choked when I asked him about her. There is another reason why she has been moved to Hogwarts and why Snape doesn't like her. If I only could find out."

Hermione tried to bring reason back to this conversation.

"And how exactly do you want to find out? Though I by now know that I cannot prevent you from rule breaking, I could not make out a way how to find out about her past. And if you're searching for a way, believe me I won't hesitate to report you if you start endangering yourselves again." 

With this, she pointed onto the Prefect's badge on her robe. Hermione of course had been made a prefect this year and took this responsibility with every necessary effort. Both Ron and Harry knew she would not think twice before taking points off from Gryffindor if one of them broke a rule on purpose.

"Okay Hermione, calm down. No need to take any points away from Harry or me just because we are curious."

Ron shook his head and went back into the castle.


	4. Gryffindor vs. Slytherin

Chapter Four

School rather dragged on for the next couple of weeks. The teachers demanded an awful lot of work from the fifth years because of the upcoming O.W.L.s at the end of term and especially Professor Snape didn't look as if he was intending to give a single O.W.L. to any of the Gryffindors.

His treatment of Samantha made Harry even more curious about who she was and where she came from.

Though the Slytherins seemed to have forgotten about the incident with Neville Longbottom in the first Potions lesson, Snape gave them enough other reasons to detest Samantha.

The new girl now did never try again to help any Gryffindor in schoolwork though she seemed to be extremely bright. She seemed to be extraordinarily talented concerning Potions, but Snape always found a reason to criticize her and to take points off his own house. It had become quite regular that Samantha cost her house around five to fifteen points a double Potions lesson and though Malfoy usually gained twice as much for them, her fellow housemates ignored her during lessons and at meals as a punishment.

Over his harsh treatment for Samantha Lewis, Snape often even forgot taking points off from Harry or Hermione, and even poor Neville was not bullied that often anymore.

Much to Harry's relief, Quidditch practice sessions started again at the beginning of October. It had been discussed by the teacher's body whether it was secure to start the Quidditch Tournament between the houses this year after all that had happened since the Triwizard Tournament.

The Daily Prophet nearly everyday now printed stories of Death Eater activity throughout the country. So far, nobody had been reported dead, but a couple of witches and wizards who had been fighting Voldemort when he had been in power last time had been attacked or simply vanished.

Despite all those bad news, Dumbledore had decided that the Quidditch games should be held as planned though the training sessions of the houses were to be watched by Professor Hooch and the head of the houses.

Oliver Wood, former Gryffindor keeper and team captain, had left school last year and now Fred and George had become team captains.

Professor McGonagall had offered this position to Harry, but he had refused it saying this was too much responsibility for him and that he couldn't afford the time. Harry had not admitted it, but deep down inside he was convinced that he would have been the worse choice compared to the twins. They at least saw it with a certain kind of humour which Oliver had always lacked. And they knew a lot more about tactics than anybody would have suggested.

So they had taken up practice again at the beginning of October after the twins had held several try outs for new team members.

Gryffindor team needed a new keeper as a substitute for Oliver Wood, who was found in Terence Balting, a second-year who did extremely well on a broom for a muggle-born. His reflexes were nearly as well as Wood's had been and he had hardly had any training so far.

The team also was one chaser short for Katie Bell had been in Oliver Wood's year as well and the twins chose their very own brother Ron for that position. Nobody reproached them with favouring their own brother for everybody knew that Ron was a good flyer and that he understood the intentions of his brothers better than anybody else. Maybe he even was the only one who knew what was going on in their minds. Besides, there was hardly anybody else applying as a chaser, so the team welcomed Ron with open arms.

The morning their first training session was about to start, Harry and Ron wanted to leave Gryffindor common room two hours before breakfast when Hermione came running down the stairs.

"Wait you two, I've forgotten to give you something!"

They turned around and waited for her.

"Well Harry, you could have reminded me of it."

"Reminded you of what Hermione?"

"Well, on the train on our first day I told you I wanted to give you your birthday present at school, but I totally forgot. I'm so sorry."

"Hermione, I'm thankful that you remind it, but now is not the right time. We have to go to the practice session, I've hardly had any sleep last night, and maybe you have realized that it's raining outside, so I'm not in the best mood. Maybe later?"

"But it could be useful.

As you know, I've spent my holiday with Victor Krum in Bulgaria", as she mentioned that name, Ron started to roll his eyes and grimaced, "and I have asked him what present could be useful for somebody who loves playing Quidditch above all else. And when Ron joined the team, I wrote an owl to Victor asking him to get me another one for him as an early Christmas present."

She pulled two parcels out from behind her back and handed them over to the boys.

"Happy birthday Harry, well, Happy early Christmas Ron!"

Harry curiously opened the package, remembering that a week ago, an owl had delivered a large package to Hermione who had hidden it with a smile on her face. She had refused to answer whom this package was from and what it contained, though Harry and Ron had tried to find out eagerly.

When he pulled out what was in the package, he found a set of Quidditch training robes. They were black and didn't look very spectacular, but when he checked the information sheet that came along with them, he saw that those robes were enchanted against water and wind. They kept the carrier dry and unharmed by the coldness of the wind even in winter.

Harry looked at Ron just to find out that he had the same robes like he did and was staring at them in disbelief.

"But Hermione, they're from the official sponsor of the Bulgarian National Team, they must have cost a fortune!"

"Don't mind. Bulgaria is a lot cheaper than England concerning shopping, really, they weren't as expensive as you imagine. And I thought that it was a good idea."

Ron beamed at her.

"Hermione, that was the best idea you've had for ages, and that means something because you normally only have great ideas! Thank you so much!"

He suddenly hugged Hermione and gave her a kiss on the cheek. As if realizing what this looked like, he drew back from her and blushed.

Harry smiled at this but then hugged Hermione as well, thanking her for this present.

"There's nothing I can add to what Ron has just said. An idea that really proves how good you are in thinking. Thanks so much!"

"You're perfectly welcome. And now off to training, I don't want to be told off by Fred and George because the two of you are late."

Harry and Ron turned around and left the common room.

"Well Harry, now we really have to think about an ingenious Christmas present for Hermione."

"That's more than right Ron."

The new robes held everything they promised. Though the rest of the team was soaking wet and freezing at the end of the session, Harry and Ron only had to dry their hair to look as if they had just left bed.

"Those robes are great, you know that? If it rains during a match, you can wear them underneath your team robes and won't be harmed by the weather. I really envy you." Fred smiled at his brother and at Harry. "I wish I had a friend like Hermione, but instead I end up with a twin brother who tries his newest inventions on myself despite every promise made in the past."

Fred and George were still making plans for their joke shop and the night before, George had handed out toffees that had turned his twin's head to the shape and size of a pumpkin. It had been hard work to convince Madam Pomfrey to change it back without telling a teacher about it.

"Well Fred, Halloween decoration is important and Percy unfortunately was not at hand."

"But you could have taken anybody but me. Remember, we swore never to try a charm on each other."

"It was just too seductive."

Fred threw his wet towel at his twin brother and swore, though nobody in the changing room believed him to be serious. Everybody knew he would pay his twin back and everything would be in order. But their regular quarrels had become a very amusing part of every day life.

When they left the changing rooms, Fred and George were already sticking their heads together and discussed new ideas.

Practice sessions were now held two times a week because Gryffindor's fist match against Ravenclaw was scheduled for October 31st, the morning before the Halloween feast.

The team was doing extremely well. Ron easily fitted himself into the moves they had trained the last year and Fred's and George's new tactics promised to become a success.

Terence was about to become the best keeper their team had ever had, the regular training had only improved his natural reflexes and he could read the moves of an attacking team better than expected.

The morning of their first match, Harry came early into the Great Hall though he was not really hungry. He never had ha big appetite before a Quidditch match, and fortunately this year there was no Oliver Wood who would force him to eat something. He just sat on the Gryffindor table in front of his tea and watched the excitement in the eyes of his team mates. Fred and George went over their tactics for the last time, Angelina, Ron and Alicia tried to follow their explanations. Only Terence looked quite nervous, his face bearing a slight shade of green.

"Don't worry Terence, you'll do just fine. You're the best keeper we've ever had and that means something because Oliver was really good. Just don't get over-excited."

Terence looked back at Harry.

"That's what everybody's been telling me, but I can't help it. I'm nervous as hell."

"That will fade away as soon as the game has started, believe me."

Harry gave Terence a short smile which the other returned.

"Just try to catch the Snitch as fast as possible before they knock me out or something."

"I will do my very best."

They laughed and rose, heading towards the Quidditch pitch. The rest of the school would follow them in about half an hour.

When they had put their scarlet robes on, Ron and Harry didn't wear their training robes underneath for the weather was extremely fine and even quite warm, Fred and George rose from their seats.

Fred spoke.

"Team, in the memory of our former captain Oliver Wood who was very good in making encouraging speeches before a match, we wanted to tell you a couple of things."

His voice turned into a nearly perfect imitation of Oliver, lost somewhere between trying to encourage and crying out for help.

_"This year's cup has our name on it, I can feel that. We need to win it for I will stay only for another year and I won't leave without this cup. We know we have the best team, so chasers, I know you will score as many goals as are possible for human beings, keeper, I expect you to hold every shot at your goals and seeker, I know you will catch the snitch the first time you see it. That's it team, onto the pitch!"_

Everyone in the room started giggling except from Terence who looked up at Fred in sheer panic. Seeing this gaze, Fred burst out laughing.

"Don't mind Terence, I've only been kidding. You didn't know Oliver so you might have gotten that wrong, it was how he would have tried to encourage us. I know you will do fine out there. Just try to keep as many shots as possible and leave the rest to us."

He patted Terence on the back and the team rose and left onto the pitch.

"And here comes Gryffindor team!"

Lee Jordan's voice was magnified magically and resounded across the pitch. As usual, he was doing the commentary on the match. Ravenclaw team was already standing on the pitch and Terry Boot, the new Ravenclaw captain who had taken over for Cho Chang went over to Fred and shook hands with him.

Madam Hooch was standing next to them, her whistle in her hand.

"Captains, I want a fair match. Mount your brooms. On my whistle!"

She blew the whistle and the teams rose up into the air. Harry rose higher than the others on his Firebolt and checked over the pitch for a sign of the snitch. When his eyes crossed the stands, he could make out Hermione sitting in the back row of Gryffindor stands. First he was surprised by this, but then he could make out the huge black dog that was sitting next to her. So Sirius had come to watch his match.

"Ravenclaw in possession. They're heading for Gryffindor goal, now…wait he didn't score but passed the Quaffle to his team mate, Miller throws and…incredible save by the new Gryffindor keeper Terence Balting!" Harry could hear Lee's commentary over the cheers of the crowds but lost it as he rose higher into the air. He tried to focus only on the snitch and on Steve Masters, the Ravenclaw seeker. But Steve was flying aimlessly across the pitch, obviously seeing nothing as well. When Harry came back into earshot, he could witness the second scoring of his own team.

"Alicia now in possession, she throws and – SCORES! Twenty – Zero for Gryffindor!"

Harry grinned. So his team was in the lead and Terence had done a good job so far. Out of the corner of his eye he saw something glitter at the base of one of the Ravenclaw goalposts, but just as he tried to dive the sparkle had disappeared again. Ravenclaw now was in possession again and headed for the Gryffindor goalposts, but they could not get behind Terence. Instead, Ron now took the Quaffle and initiated an attack that led to Gryffindor's third goal.

At that moment, Steve dived. Harry saw it as well, the snitch was sparkling in the middle of the pitch, just above the grass. Harry hurried behind Steve, trying to catch up which was not that difficult for he was flying the better broom. The crowd seemed to be holding their breath as both seekers headed towards the ground at immense speed. Harry stretched out his left hand, tried to catch the snitch, but pulled his broom up again the moment he realized that he could not get close enough. 

When he looked down he saw that Steve had managed to pull up his broom as well and was now trying to regain control and that the snitch has vanished again. The stands were cheering at that spectacular move.

"The game continues as none of the seekers has managed to catch the snitch…and here Alicia scores the fifty-zero for Gryffindor!"

Harry flew around in circles across the pitch and tried to find the snitch again, but for what seemed like ages, he could not detect anything.

The score was now one-hundred to ten (Ravenclaw had scored on a penalty after George had nearly thrown a Ravenclaw beater off his broom without a bludger being involved) when the snitch reappeared on the pitch. It flew beside the Gryffindor goalpost and Steven didn't seem to notice it. Harry sped out for it and could hardly dodge a bludger set towards him by a Ravenclaw beater. He realized that Steve was speeding behind him, but he would never be able to catch up with the Firebolt. Harry took his left hand off his broom, stretched it out and…too late he realized that he would collide with the goalpost if he kept speeding towards it like that, but he could not slow down anymore. He grabbed his hand around the snitch, pulled his broom upwards and performed a spectacular back-summersault-looping through the loop as he tried to prevent from crashing against the goalpost.

When he had gained control over his flight again, he opened his fingers and presented the snitch, whose tiny wings flapped against his palm. The stands, who had held their breath for the last seconds, burst out into loud cheers except for the Slytherins who hissed and booed.

"Potter has got the snitch! The game is over! Gryffindor beats Ravenclaw two-hundred-fifty to ten!"

Harry landed on the pitch and soon was surrounded by his team mates who all congratulated and hugged him.

"Harry that was just great!"

"How come you never told us you could do that…!"

"Wow, if that move had gone wrong..."

Harry beamed at Terence who was standing back shyly. "Great performance Terence. Only one goal against us, and that was a penalty! Best choice for a keeper we could have made!"

"Well, if you don't count the seeker that has gone lost in our goal, then you're right Harry." Ron beamed at his friend.

Terry smiled and the Gryffindors headed for the changing rooms. On their way both Harry and Ron received their congratulation hugs from Hermione who also told them that Snuffles would be waiting in Lupin's office after the match.

So Harry changed as fast as he could and he and Ron headed back towards the castle. They knocked on Lupin's door and Hermione opened. Inside, Lupin and Sirius were sitting at Lupin's desk, a large amount of Butterbeer bottles placed in front of them. Lupin addressed Harry.

"Normally, I'm neither allowed to favour one house nor to hand out alcohol to my students, but as today at the feast you will be served Butterbeer as well, I thought I could make an exception. And as far as the favouring is concerned…well I would never dare to contradict Sirius' opinion."

He winked and Harry went over to Sirius who beamed at him and looked extremely proud.

"You know Harry, up to today I thought that James was the best flyer I've ever seen, but I'm sure he would have crashed into the goalpost if he had tried that move. You've surely inherited his talent and by now have even become better."

Harry laughed out.

"You know, if I've consciously tried that move, I would be in the hospital wing right now. I've just tried to save my neck up there."

He sat down and all of them helped themselves to some Butterbeer. Soon they were chatting excitedly about the game. After an hour, Harry, Ron and Hermione left for Lupin had to take Sirius back to the passage before joining the preparations for the feast. They promised Sirius to visit him during the Hogsmeade weekend the fortnight after and left for their dormitory.

As they opened the portrait hole, unmistakeable party sounds drove towards them.

"Hey, where have you been, we've already missed you!", George shouted, handing out toffees to them. "No jokes, promise. Not after such a glorious victory." The three joined into the celebration and only half an hour before the official start of the feast they returned to their dormitories to change robes.


	5. Malfoy's curse

Chapter Five

The Great Hall was decorated with the usual Halloween decoration, containing pumpkin-lanterns and living bats flying across the enchanted ceiling.

The feast was more than just opulent and Harry soon regretted that he had eaten the lot of sweets handed out by the twins. After everybody had eaten and the puddings had vanished, leaving nothing but empty, clean plates, Dumbledore rose from his seat.

"Alas, another Halloween feast at Hogwarts and that after such an extremely entertaining Quidditch match. I will soon leave you with the more enjoyable part of the feast, but before that I will use the opportunity that everybody is assembled here to make a few further announcements.

I have told you that possibly the restrictions laid on you could be loosened farther into this year. Unfortunately, this is not the case. I must remind you that nobody is allowed sneaking around in the house after curfew. Quidditch practices will be overseen by at least two teachers.

Now that the first Hogsmeade weekend has come close, I have to announce that the students will be guided to the village and on their way home. Inside of the village you will be under the protection of the wizards living there, but your way has to be guided by the teachers. First years will be led by Professor McGonagall, Second by Professor Sprout, Third by Professor Lupin, Fourth by Professor Flitwick, Fifth by Professor Snape, Sixth by Madam Hooch and Seventh by Professor Vector. The teachers will tell you when your group will be leaving during the last lesson before the Hogsmeade visit. 

Nobody is allowed to leave the village without a teacher, not matter for what reason. This is not a mean to control, but to protect you. 

Now, let's leave it with announcements and enjoy some more Butterbeers before we call it a day."

Dumbledore sat down again and murmurs rose all around the Great Hall.

"Snape? Why does it have to be Snape…"

"I'd rather be guided by the giant squib than by Snape, believe me…"

"That'll ruin the entire weekend…"

"Why did the third years get Lupin and not us?"

None of the Fifth-years at Gryffindor table was happy with the decision that Snape should guide them to Hogsmeade, only Harry's mind drifted off towards something else. He pulled Ron's sleeve and whispered to him.

"I have to write an owl to Sirius about this. We agreed not to meet in Lupin's house in case somebody sees me and asks why I visit a teacher's house in my spare time, so we decided to meet at the Shrieking Shack. But it's out of Hogsmeade, I could not go there without anybody noticing."

"The Invisibility Cloak?" Ron suggested.

Harry shook his head.

"I think it's too risky. If anybody realizes we're missing and tells Snape, we have a serious problem. And Hermione would not come with us, let alone allow us to go. She would hardly have done last year, and now as a Prefect…"

Ron nodded. "You're right. Let's write to Sirius, maybe he and Lupin can find a solution."

Both rose and headed off towards the owlery.

Having written Sirius about his problem, Harry suddenly realized how tired he was and both boys headed back towards Gryffindor tower, falling asleep at the very moment their heads touched their pillows.

Their last lesson before the Hogsmeade trip on Saturday was a single Potions lesson Snape normally used not to brew potions, but to question his class about ingredients, receipts and intended effects of potions. This meant he normally used it to bully Harry and Neville with complicated questions just to take points from them while he left the easiest question to his own house members and gave them more points for their answers than would have been adequate. And he always ignored Hermione.

Despite Snape's obvious dislike for Samantha, in this single lesson he rarely found a possibility to criticize her like he did in the practical lessons. Whenever he asked her a question, she knew the right answer and gave it to Snape in a manner showing that his lesson didn't interest her at all. Snape never gave her house points for her right answers though.

This Friday afternoon however, he ended the lesson ten minutes earlier than usual.

"Class, as you've heard the headmaster tell at the Halloween feast, I will guide into town tomorrow. I have already given out the instructions to the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff fifth-years and I ask you to remind them for I will not repeat myself.

We will meet in the Entrance Hall at three p.m. sharp tomorrow afternoon. If I were you, I'd make sure to be there because I will not wait for anybody who is still not able to read the clock at the age of fifteen. Who's not in the Hall at three p.m. will have to stay at the castle. We will then walk into the village where you will be left to do whatever it is you little rays of sunshine do when you get there." He smirked and Harry knew that he didn't approve having to guide them at all. Snape continued.

"At seven-thirty we will meet again in front of The Three Broomsticks and I will guide you back to the castle. Keep in mind that if you're late when we leave for the village, you will only be left behind. If you're late when we leave for the castle again, you will be in serious trouble, I'll see to that. That's it, class dismissed."

They all rose and headed back for their houses. On their way to Gryffindor tower, Harry and Ron met Professor Lupin on the corridor. Harry remembered that he hadn't received an answer from Sirius yet and waited a moment so that the other Gryffindors could pass him and Ron.

"Professor, could I have a quick word with you please?"

Lupin turned around and when he saw Harry he hit his forehead with his palm and gestured Harry and Ron into the next room.

"Good that you've addressed me, he would have killed me if I had forgotten." He turned around towards the door as if to check whether it was really closed and then sat down on the table next to him.

"Sirius told me days ago to deliver a message from him, but I totally forgot. I'm sorry. Of course you won't be able to meet at the Shrieking Shack, not after the rules Dumbledore has established. We've thought about a possible place for you to meet for it would not be wise to meet at my place. We've finally found something, I think. I've remembered that the Three Broomsticks has a small back room. I asked Madam Rosmerta whether we could have it this weekend and she agreed. I'll bring Sirius along in dog-shape for everybody in the village knows I own a dog and nobody will be suspicious about it. He'll have to cope with crossing a pub full of people who want to stroke him and pat his head, nobody said being an animagus was only fun. When we're in the back room, he can change back and we will lock the door. I thought it would be a good idea, because that way our supply of Butterbeer won't be interrupted."

Harry smiled.

"Sounds good Professor. Snape's just told us that we'll leave at three p.m., so I think we will be in the village around three thirty. Let's meet at five thirty, then we can go to Zonko's and Honeydukes before and still have two hours left before we leave again."

Lupin nodded.

"Five thirty then. Just as Madam Rosmerta for the back room, she'll lead you there. I'll tell Sirius."

He nodded again and got up.

Harry and Ron rose late the next morning and decided to skip breakfast. If Halloween had taught them a lesson then that it was wise to remain hungry if you have a big feast to look forward to. And a visit to Honeydukes definitely was a feast. 

They spent what was left of that morning in the Common Room together with Hermione and a huge pile of homework. While Hermione was doing revision in advanced Arithmacy, Harry and Ron had to make star charts for their Divination lesson with Professor Trelawney. Hermione had skipped Divination in their third year saying that it was nothing but imprecise rubbish, but the two boys had kept it. Though Professor Trelawney predicted Harry's death nearly every lesson, both considered it to be a lot of fun, especially since they made up most of their predictions.

They were sitting in front of the fire and giggled as they thought about the most cruel and unreal predictions for their near future.

At noon the two boys were nearly finished and left the Common Room for a quick dinner in the Great Hall, which was unusually empty. Only a couple of Gryffindor first and second years were sitting on their table, five or six Ravenclaws, no Hufflepuffs and only Draco Malfoy representing the Slytherins.

"Hey Harry, what may have made Crabbe and Goyle leave Malfoy alone? Surely the single brain cell they share doesn't allow them to make an own decision."

Harry laughed.

"I really don't know, but as long as they are not there he'll surely leave us alone. He's not courageous enough to stand up on his own." 

As there were no teachers present, and the chance was just too seductive, Ron turned around towards the Slytherin table.

Harry sighed. "Ron, just leave him. He's not worth bothering about."

But Ron didn't listen.

"Hey Malfoy! Did Crabbe and Goyle finally figure out that your company sucks? I had not expected them to realize before the end of sixth year! Did I really under-estimate their intellect?"

Malfoy looked up from his untouched plate.

"Shove off Weasley!"

Ron could not hold himself back.

"Oh Malfoy, that's what I've always admired: your unbelievable wit and eloquence!"

"Shut up and leave!"

"Well Malfoy, why should I do that? This is the Great Hall, I can be here as long as I want to. Why don't you just leave, go back to your little dungeon and plan the end of the world or what it is you and your father are up to in your spare time!"

"Stop talking about things you don't understand!"

Malfoy rose and stepped towards Harry and Ron, pulling out his wand. His eyes, which normally showed not a single trace of emotion now were shining with fury. He pointed the wand at Ron's chest.

"I could curse you, _Weasel, any time I wanted to. So if I tell you to leave me alone, just do it or I won't hesitate to use what I've been taught. I won't repeat it anymore. Leave. Me. Alone!"_

Harry wanted to pull Ron back but his friend had obviously just gotten started.

"Want to try ay new-learned illegal curse? Which one is it? Doesn't your father supply you with enough guinea pigs to train on?"

"Ron, stop that." Harry made a last attempt to stop his friend from provoking Malfoy, but four years of being insulted were too much for Ron to let this chance pass unused.

Malfoy's chin had started trembling with fury and at Ron's last statement he exploded. It happened so fast, neither Ron nor Harry could do anything to prevent it.

Malfoy shouted "Stop talking about my father!", pointed his wand at Ron's chest once more and yelled "_Calidei!"_

The curse hit Ron so hard, he flew back through the air wand hit hard onto the wall. He lay on the floor and didn't move, blood oozing out of a wound at the back of his head where he had hit the wall.

"Ron!" Harry ran over towards his friend. "Malfoy, what the hell have you done to him?" But Malfoy just stood there and trembled, his wand still in his hand which pointed at the spot Ron had been standing at only a minute ago. His hand shook like mad.

The few students that had been having lunch hat gotten up and stared at the scene in disbelief.

At that moment, Snape entered the Great Hall and saw the scene. He stepped over towards the motionless Ron, bent down next to him and examined the wound.

"Potter, what has happened here?"

"Malfoy has cursed Ron."

"With which curse?"  
"I don't know Professor."

Snape turned around towards Malfoy who still had not moved.

"Mr. Malfoy, what have you cursed Mr. Weasley with?"

Malfoy didn't move but after a short moment he opened his mouth and spoke. "…Calideius…"

Snape's eyes widened and for a moment he appeared to be shocked. But Snape quickly turned around towards Ron, pulled out his wand and muttered "_Removare Calidei". Then he conjured a stretcher and addressed Harry._

"Potter, take Mr. Weasley to the Hospital wing. Just wave your wand, the stretcher will follow your movement. Tell Madam Pomfrey what happened here, she will know what to do. I have something to talk about with Mr. Malfoy and the headmaster."

He turned around again.

"Students, the show is over, please continue with your lunch. Mr. Malfoy, follow me!" Malfoy shook his head as if to free himself from his paralysis and then followed Snape out of the Great Hall like a prisoner who was led to his execution.

Harry pointed his wand at the stretcher and carefully moved Ron up the stairs towards the hospital wing. Fortunately he didn't meet anybody on his way there whom he needed to explain what had just happened.

Harry was deeply concerned about Ron but also fuming about Malfoy's behaviour. Of course, Ron had provoked him, but Malfoy couldn't just curse him like that.

He opened the door and waved Ron into the room.

Madam Pomfrey came out of her office the moment she saw them arriving.

"Mr. Potter, what has happened?" She moved Ron over towards one of the beds and then looked at Harry.

"Malfoy has cursed him with the…what was it called…Calideius curse. He hit the wall with his head. Then Professor Snape had done a spell called "Removare Calidei" and told me to bring him to you. Will he be okay?"

Madam Pomfrey nodded. "Yes he will. The Professor has already performed the counter curse. I'll look after the wound on his head and check whether the spell has had any side effects on him. He'll have to stay here for the rest of the day, but I think he'll be just fine by tomorrow. But no Hogsmeade for him this weekend, I'm afraid. Now, if you don't mind, leave so that I can look after him. You can come back after your Hogsmeade visit if you want to, he should be awake by then."

Harry nodded and left the Hospital wing hearing Madam Pomfrey mutter something about illegal curses behind his back. He nearly collided with Professor McGonagall who was about to enter the hospital.

"Ah, Mr. Potter, I was looking out for you. The headmaster has just informed me. How is Mr. Weasley doing?"

"Madam Pomfrey says that he will recover."

She nodded.

"That's a relief. Mr. Potter, the headmaster send me for you. He wants to see you in his office to tell him what has happened in the Great Hall."

Harry followed her through the corridors until they stopped in front of the stone gargoyle that marked the entrance to Professor Dumbledore's office.

"Liquorice", said Professor McGonagall, the gargoyle slid aside and they climbed up the staircase until they reached the wooden door of Dumbledore's office. McGonagall knocked and stepped in.

Dumbledore sat behind his desk, his expression was very worried but angry at the same time. Malfoy was sitting in a chair in front of him and looked at his boots while Snape leaned at the wall to his right and seemed fuming.

"Ah, Mr. Potter, take a seat. Maybe you can bring some light into this issue for Mr. Malfoy refuses to say anything. What has happened in the Great Hall?

Harry sat down in the chair next to Malfoy and started to tell, trying not to look at Malfoy.

"Well, Ron and I went into the Great Hall to have a quick lunch and there we saw Malfoy sitting alone at the Slytherin table. Well, I think Ron saw it as some kind of possibility to pay Malfoy back a little of what he's done to him in the past, so he provoked him and didn't stop as Malfoy told him to leave. I tried to finish this, but Ron didn't listen to me. Then Malfoy said that he could curse Ron any time he wanted to and as Ron said something about Mr. Malfoy teaching his son how to perform illegal curses he just flipped out and cursed Ron with this Calideius curse. Ron flew back and hit the wall, and then Professor Snape arrived, performed a counter curse and told me to take Ron to the hospital wing."

Dumbledore nodded and addressed Draco.

"Mr. Malfoy, this is a very serious situation. What you've just done was performing a dark curse on one of your fellow students. A curse you should not even know about let alone use on another human being or anything else! Where did you learn that curse?"

Malfoy didn't respond.

"Mr. Malfoy, look at me when I'm talking to you!"

Dumbledore yelled really angry. Harry had never seen him like this before, let alone heard him shouting at a student. Malfoy raised his head and looked at Dumbledore, but still said nothing.

"Mr. Malfoy, I will ask you just once more. Where did you learn that curse?"

Malfoy still remained silent. Dumbledore sighed.

"Well, we won't reach anything with this I suppose. Mr. Malfoy, one hundred points will be taken from Slytherin house for this act. Even if Mr. Weasley provoked you, this is not a way to react, not matter what he has said to you. You will serve detention three times a week until the end of this term. Detentions will be arranged by Professors Snape and McGonagall as well as by Mr. Filch. There will be no Hogsmeade weekends for you this year. I even think about excluding you from Quidditch, but it would not be fair for your team. But I will tell your father about this, be sure. Professor Snape will now bring you to your dormitory."

Malfoy's eyes had widened a moment as Dumbledore mentioned his father, but then he simply got up and followed Snape out of the room.

"Mr. Potter, I will also take twenty points from Gryffindor for the provocation. This is not adult behaviour and I surely will have another word with Mr. Weasley about it."

Harry nodded guiltily. 'I should have make Ron stop', he thought.

"Professor, what is the Calideius curse?"

"It's a dark curse that can do a lot of harm if the counter curse is not performed immediately. It sends the person who is cursed into a sleep-like state and if the counter curse is not performed in time, he remains like that. It's not a matter of seconds or even a few minutes to perform the counter curse, but it was very lucky that Professor Snape was there to do it. The longer the curse is put onto a person, the longer it takes for him to recover. But Mr. Weasley will be fine by tomorrow, I'm sure about that."  
"But why didn't you expel Malfoy? He cannot walk around school and curse people like that! If he has been taught that curse, maybe he can perform even worse ones. His father is a Death Eater, I'm sure he has taught him enough to kill one of us if he wants to!"

"This Mr. Potter, is my decision and I surely have my reasons for it. It's none of your business how I punish my students. Now, maybe you should get into the Great Hall, I think you have a Hogsmeade visit about to come and Professor Snape surely would not approve if you were late."

He nodded and Harry got up and left.

When he checked his watch he realized that it was already five minutes to three and he hurried to get down into the Entrance Hall. All the fifth years were already assembled there, and Hermione came walking towards him.

"Harry, where have you been? And where's Ron? I heard a second year talking about Malfoy cursing someone in the Great Hall, what has happened?"

Harry sighed.

"Malfoy has cursed Ron and he's in the hospital wing now. He'll be fine, don't worry, he has just bumped his head on the wall. I'll fill you in on the details later, I don't want to talk about it in front of the entire class. Let's just go and get him some sweets and then wait for Lupin and Snuffles."

Hermione nodded but still looked extremely worried. Harry lay a comforting arm around her shoulder. "He'll be fine, believe me."

The other students were waiting for Snape impatiently.

"…telling _us we should not be late…"_

"…it's already ten minutes past three…"

"…maybe we should leave _him because he was too late…"_

That moment, Snape stormed out of the dungeons.

"It's late, let's leave immediately."

"Professor, Draco Malfoy has not turned up yet." Pansy Parkinson smiled at Snape, knowing that he would not leave his favourite student behind.

"Mr. Malfoy will not attend this Hogsmeade visit Ms. Parkinson. We leave now."

"But what's wrong with Draco? Is he ill?"

"That, Ms. Parkinson, is absolutely none of your business. And if the whole of you won't start moving immediately, I will cancel your visit."

He strode off out of the doors, the students following him.

"Ain't that great? A Hogsmeade visit without Malfoy!" Neville joined Hermione and Harry who just nodded at him and tried to smile.  
"Yeah Neville, just great."

They didn't talk very much on their way into town and got away from Neville as fast as possible. First, they went into Honeydukes and bought a large amount of chocolate frogs, Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans and other sweets as presents for Ron. They also made a short visit to Zonko's the joke shop where they purchased a get-well-soon-card which told recovery wishes in seven different goblin dialects. Ron surely would approve that, for it didn't finish speaking once started until the one whom it was given to repeated each sentence it said correctly.

It was quarter to five when they entered the Three Broomsticks. Fortunately, most of the students were still off shopping and nobody who knew them was in sight.

Harry and Hermione went over towards the bar.

"What can I do for you?" Madam Rosmerta stood behind the bar and smiled at them.

"We want to go to the back room. We have an appointment there."

She smiled and then nodded.

"So you're the ones Remus wanted to meet here. Why all this secrecy? He won't tell you about his final exams, will he?" She laughed as if she had made a very good joke and then turned around.

"Well, it seems to be none of my business. He's not here yet, but I'll bring you into the back room so that you can wait for him. Do you want anything to drink?"  
"Yeah, a Butterbeer would be fine." Harry looked at Hermione who nodded. "Two Butterbeers."

Madam Rosmerta handed two bottles at Harry and Hermione and then went into a corridor behind the bar. The doors in that corridor led into the kitchen and storage rooms but the last door on the left side led into a small room. It was lit by two torches on the wall and its furniture consisted only of a table and six chairs. Thick curtains hung in front of the window and blocked the outside from sight.

Madam Rosmerta gestured them to sit down.

"I'll lead Remus in here as soon as he comes. If you need something, just come up to the bar. I won't be able to look after you very often once all the students come running in here."

She smiled and closed the door and Harry and Hermione sat down.

"Please Harry, what has happened to Ron?" Hermione still looked concerned above all else. He quickly told her everything that had happened at lunch and in Dumbledore's office.  
"He didn't expel him??? What…but why…he could have KILLED RON!!!"

"Who could have killed Ron? Has something happened?"

In their excitement, neither Harry nor Hermione had heard Lupin enter the room, carrying five bottles of Butterbeer on a tablet. Sirius was at his side, still dog shaped. Lupin closed the door and turned around the key, then stepped over towards the table and sat down. Sirius changed into human shape and did the same. He looked concernedly at Harry.

"What has happened? Where is Ron?"

"At lunch in the Great Hall, Ron provoked Malfoy. Malfoy was alone and I could not talk Ron out of it. Malfoy threatened to curse Ron and as Ron said something about Malfoy's father teaching him illegal curses, he hit him with the Calideius curse."

"What???" Lupin and Sirius gasped at the same time. Both looked horrified. Sirius was the first to regain speech.

"How is Ron doing?"

"Madam Pomfrey said he should be fine again by tomorrow. Snape was there at the right time and performed the counter curse."

"That's a relief. I don't want to imagine what would have happened to Ron if there had been no teacher present, the Calideius curse can have serious consequences."

"Yeah, I know. Dumbledore told me about it."

"But where did he learn that curse?"

Lupin laughed harshly.

"Sirius, don't be naïve. You know what Lucius Malfoy is like. Calideius is surely not the worst curse he has taught his son. I wonder what Dumbledore is going to do about him."

"Nothing!"

"What do you mean with nothing, Harry?"

"Well, he's taken hundred points from Slytherin and Malfoy has to do detentions and is not allowed into Hogsmeade this year. But that's all. He didn't expel him!"

"I can't believe that. Dumbledore surely doesn't want a student who knows illegal curses and is ready to use them at his school. Especially not in times like these."

"That's what I thought as well Sirius. But he didn't expel him."

Both Sirius and Lupin shook their heads in disbelief. Finally, Lupin spoke again.

"Well, I've learned that Dumbledore never makes a decision without a reason. But I can't see any reason why he should keep Malfoy at Hogwarts after that. I'll ask him about it when I find a possibility. Are you going to visit Ron tonight?"

Harry nodded. "Sure, Madam Pomfrey told me I could come after the Hogsmeade visit."

"Well, send him greetings from me."

"As well as from me", Sirius added.

Harry suddenly grinned evilly. "Well, we have bought him a get-well-soon-card, maybe you would want to sign it." He pulled out the goblin card and Sirius broke into a laughing fit at the sight of it.

"Moony, I can distantly remember that James, Peter and I once sent you one of those after you had a little accident in potions. Madam Pomfrey threatened to kill us because it took you hours to figure the goblin greetings out. Harry, give me that card, it's a pleasure for me to sign it."

Lupin just shook his head.

"I thought they had given up making them by now. Evil little things. The last goblin phrase is especially complicated, I think those goblins hardly ever use vowels when they speak. Hand me that pen Sirius, I want to sign as well." He looked at Harry and Hermione as if he wanted to excuse himself. "Well, this time it's not me who has to figure out the delicate details of goblin dialects." He grinned, signed the card and handed it back to Harry.

Talking about the card had brought their minds away from Malfoy and Ron and soon they were engaged in a conversation about everything that had happened since they had last met. They also talked about the upcoming holidays and Sirius ensured Harry that depending on who would stay over Christmas, there would be better possibilities for them to meet.

Too soon it was quarter past seven and Harry and Hermione rose.

"We have to go. Snape's not in a very good mood today and he'd surely get us expelled if we were late for the meeting."

Sirius nodded.

"We'll wait another couple of minutes before we leave. Good bye, and don't forget to greet Ron! If anything else happens, send me an owl."  
"Sure. Bye Sirius. See you in lessons, Professor."

"Yeah, Bye Sirius, Professor."

And Harry and Hermione left.

Snape was already waiting in front of the pub. He seemed to have calmed down a little since they had left the castle. All the fifth years arrived at least ten minutes before scheduled for nobody wanted to annoy Snape even more. Though nobody except from Hermione and Ron knew why he was so angry, everybody could guess that this was not the right day to disobey one of Snape's orders.

When they arrived at the castle, Harry and Hermione ran up the stairs and stormed into the hospital wing.

"You two! This is a hospital and no track-and-field contest! Slow down or I won't let you visit Mr. Weasley."

Madam Pomfrey was standing next to a bed, changing the sheets with her wand.

"Sorry. How is Ron doing? Can we see him? We brought presents from Hogsmeade for him."

"Mr. Weasley has woken up an hour ago and is doing quite fine. He needs rest now, but as I promised you already that you could visit him, I'll let you stay. Ten minutes, not more."

Harry pulled out the bag of sweets and the get-well-soon card from his pocket and approached Ron's bed.

"Mr. Potter! What kind of card is this?"

Harry turned around towards the nurse and reddened.

"Oh,…just a get-well-soon card for Ron. We bought it in Hogsmeade."

"Mr. Potter, don't try to fool me! I know those cards. Your father and his gang already considered them to be funny and they were not the last students who brought them up here, but I won't have those nasty goblin voices keeping my patients from resting. Give it to me, I will hand it out to Mr. Weasley when he leaves tomorrow morning. He can figure it out in your Common Room."

She took the card out of Harry's hands and left for her office. Harry sighed and he and Hermione stepped over towards Ron's bed.

Ron was sitting in his bed and smiled at them.

"Hey Ron, how are you doing? I was so shocked when Harry told me what had happened." Hermione sat down on Ron's bed and hugged him.

"I'm fine, only my head feels as if it's going to explode any minute. Madam Pomfrey told me that I hit the wall after Malfoy cursed me."

"You should not have provoked him Ron. I told you he wasn't worth bothering."

"Do you blame me now Harry? I simply did the same he always does to us. I could not have guessed that he would overreact like that. By the way, what _did he curse me with?"_

"I don't blame you for what Malfoy has done, but still I don't think it was such a good idea to provoke him. He put a dark spell on you which would have left you in a coma if Professor Snape had not been there to perform the counter curse."

"What??? Now he's totally out of mind! What's next? Avada Kedavra? Surely Dumbledore expelled him, didn't he?"

Harry shook his head. "No. Though I don't understand why not. Nobody does, neither me and Hermione nor Lupin and Sirius. Dumbledore simply took points off Slytherin and gave Malfoy detention until the end of term."

Ron stared at him in disbelief.

"He didn't expel him? Shit! Getting Malfoy expelled would have been worth paying the prize of lying here, but detention? Instead, I have to thank Snape for saving me. Not a good day, definitely not."

"Well Ron, I agree with Harry if he says that you shouldn't have provoked him, but now try to forget about it. You'll be fine again and that's all that matters. Sirius and Professor Lupin told us to send their greetings to you. Oh, and we brought you something from Hogsmeade."

She pulled the bag onto Ron's bed who opened it with great delight.

"Oh, Chocolate Frogs, and Every Flavour Beans and Honeydukes Milk Bars,…thanks so much. That will keep me alive until tomorrow morning!"

"We've also had a get-well-soon card from us which was signed by us, Lupin and Sirius, but unfortunately Madam Pomfrey confiscated it."

"Why should she do something like this?"

"Well, you'll find out soon enough. She'll hand it out to you tomorrow."

At that moment, Madam Pomfrey came out of her office and gestured them to leave.

"Enough for today, Mr. Weasley needs rest now. I'll send him back to Gryffindor Tower tomorrow morning after breakfast."

"Okay. Bye Ron."

Hermione and Harry got up and nodded at their friend.

"Yeah bye. Thanks for your visit. Tell Fred, George and Ginny that I'm okay if they realize that I'm missing."

"We will. Good night."

"Good night."


	6. A father's visit

Disclaimer (forgot that one before): I don't own anything here except the plot and Samantha Lewis as a character. Everything else is borrowed from J.K. Rowling's imagination and I try everything I can to return all the characters in one piece after I let them go through my story. No promises made, though. No money is made through any of this. (or if it is, it never reaches me.)

Chapter Six

Ron came into the Gryffindor Common Room at half past eight the next morning just as Harry and Hermione returned from breakfast. He looked at them as if he was ready to kill.

"Hey Ron! What's up? Doing better?"

"Don't pretend to be so innocent Harry!"

"What do you mean?" Harry avoided looking into Ron's eyes and Hermione appeared to be close to a laughing fit.

"I mean that stupid get-well-soon card Madam Pomfrey handed out to me at seven o'clock this morning. The last one and a half hour I spent talking goblin dialects! Thank you so much!"

Both Harry and Hermione could not stand it anymore and broke into laughter.

"Oh Ron", Hermione finally managed to say, "if it really took you only one and a half hour, then you are a genius. The man who sold us the card told us the average time was around three hours."

Ron looked at his friends and shook his head.

"Did you spend more time with Fred and George than I thought you did?" Then he started laughing as well.

"We should leave now, otherwise we'll be late for Herbology."

"Sure Hermione. Just let me get my stuff from upstairs."

The rest of the week passed without anything unusual happening until Friday morning. The Gryffindors were having Defence Against the Dark Arts and Harry, Ron and Hermione were late.

They arrived just in time for their lesson and sat down at their usual places in front of the teacher's desk. Since Professor Lupin had returned, Defence Against the Dark Arts had become even more interesting than in their third year. So far they had covered several magical creatures that could really harm human beings and Harry, Ron and Hermione had wondered more than once how Lupin and Hagrid managed to get hold of them. Sometimes they had even been allowed to enter certain parts of the Forbidden Forest, always in small groups together with Professor Lupin, Hagrid and Fang.

This morning however, Lupin didn't carry any cage or basket and also didn't ask them to leave the classroom and go down to Hagrid's hut.

"Good Morning, please take your seats. I've had a conversation with Professor Dumbledore. I'm sure that by now all of you know what has happened to Mr. Weasley in the Great Hall last Saturday at lunch. I know that such news spread around school faster than any fire could ever do.

Now, Professor Dumbledore and I agreed that we should take certain alternations in the Ministry's schedule for fifth years. It is more likely that you will be confronted with a curse then with vampire-bats. It might also be a better choice to remain inside the castle for the winter and return to the magical creatures in early spring.

I have been informed that you covered the three Unforgivable Curses last year. As you know that there are no ways to block Avada Kedavra and the Cruciatus Curse and have all experienced what it takes to fight the Imperious Curse, there is nothing more I can add.

But, there still is a large number of dark curses you could be confronted with and for the rest of the term I will try to give you a little insight into them. You will learn how to block some of the curses or how to dodge them, but also how to recognize which curse has been used on somebody and how to perform the counter curses.

I have to inform you that everyone who dares to use one of the curses I show you will be expelled. I, and only I, will perform the curses to show you their consequences and most of them are illegal. I cannot put those curses onto you for some of them can do a great damage, so we will use spiders."

Ron immediately pushed his chair back from Lupin's desk as far as possible. Ron detested Spiders.

Lupin opened a cupboard on the wall behind his desk and pulled out a large glass jar in which maybe ten spiders crawled around.

Hermione looked startled. "Professor, you surely don't want to put dark curses onto those poor spiders."

Lupin smiled.

"Miss Granger, I can assure you that none of the spells will do any harm to them." Hermione didn't look convinced.

"Now, today we will cover the Calideius Curse. Does anybody know what this charm does?" 

Harry, Ron and Hermione raised their hands, Ron again was looking as if he was ready to kill Malfoy for having put that curse on him and escape nearly unpunished.

"Anybody except Ms. Granger, Mr. Potter or Mr. Weasley? Mr. Thomas maybe?"

Dean looked up. "The Calideius Curse…I think the one on whom it is used falls asleep."

Lupin nodded. "That's the general idea, but does anybody knows it more precisely? Yes, Miss Brown?"

"I think it's more like a magical coma which doesn't end if the counter curse is not performed in time."

"Very good Miss Brown. Five points to Gryffindor. Now, how much time you have to perform the counter curse varies from person to person. But so far, nobody is known who has woken up after the curse was on him for more than an hour. Even half an hour is already a dangerous time. The younger or smaller the person is, the faster the counter curse has to be performed. In Mr. Weasley's case, the counter curse was performed in under five minutes which means that no lasting harm was done. The longer the person suffers from the curse, the more time it takes to recover. I'll show you."

He opened the glass jar and took two spiders out and placed them on his table. The spiders tried to crawl off the table immediately. Lupin took out a wand and drew a circle around the spiders on the table.

"I've just drawn a line which they cannot cross so that they won't crawl away. Now I will perform the Calideius Curse on both spiders at the same time but take it off again at different times."

He pointed his wand at one of the spiders and muttered "_Calidei", then repeated the same with the second spider. Both were thrown back when the curse hit them and then lay motionless on the desk._

"Now I will remove the curse from one spider." He pointed his wand at one of the animals and said "_Removare Calidei". The spider slowly started moving its legs and after a couple of moments ran across the table again as if nothing had happened. Lupin waited a little more and then removed the curse from the second spider. For a minute or so, nothing happened. Then the spider slowly moved a leg, then another, but did nothing else._

"As you see, the first spider seems nearly unharmed and it took only moments until it fully recovered. The curse has lasted maybe two or three minutes longer on the second spider, but it will still take some more time for it to recover. As spiders are very small animals, the curse would have been irremovable if had lasted only some minutes longer."

He took the spiders and put them back into the glass. Ron looked at Harry.

"And Malfoy is still allowed to stay here after he did _that to me?" Harry shrugged his shoulders. Lupin, who had heard what Ron had just said, stepped towards him._

"Ron, I think Professor Dumbledore always has his reasons for his decisions, even though they might not be obvious for others."

He stepped back towards his desk.

"Now, as you've seen the counter curse is "_Removare Calidei". A lot of curses can be taken off if you repeat the incarnation after you've done the Removare Spell. Removare cannot do any harm to the one who has been cursed no matter what with, but you always have to be aware that it doesn't work on some curses. You have to know which these curses are, for it is of no use if you cast Removare and it doesn't work, because you won't necessarily realize that it doesn't work. Mr. Weasley has staid unconscious even after the spell had been taken off him because he had hit his head on the wall. If Removare would not work on the Calideius curse, you would not have realized it in this case."_

At that moment, the bell rang.

"Before you leave: Your homework will be to find out how one can recognize that the Calideius Curse was used on a person. Second task is to find out on which curses Removare doesn't work and how you recognize them. There are two books in the Restricted Section of the library which will help you to find out. I will leave a list with your names with Madam Pince, she'll hand out the books to you. See you next lesson."

The class got up and left the room, Ron still shaking his head in disbelief.

"Just imagine Snape had not come into the Great Hall. What if no teacher would have been there in time? Malfoy is totally insane if you ask me!"

"Ron, calm down. It's no use to ask 'What if' questions. Snape has been there and you're all right. But I agree with you, Malfoy is totally out of mind. Now let's hurry, or we'll miss Care of Magical Creatures. And I could not bear missing the mortal peril Hagrid usually puts us in."

They laughed and walked off towards the Entrance Hall.

While the Gryffindor fifth years had been sitting in their Defence against the Dark Arts lesson, a man in a thick travel cloak entered Hogwarts through the front doors. He removed the hood of his cloak and revealed his blond, nearly silver hair. His pointed face looked angry as his cold grey eyes moved around the Entrance Hall.

At that moment Professor McGonagall came down the stairs and wanted to set off for the dungeons, but she saw the man standing at the door and turned towards him.

"Mr. Malfoy. Professor Dumbledore expected you to come here. If you'd please follow me to my office, I'd like to have a word with you about your son."

Lucius Malfoy raised a hand and gestured her to stop talking.

"I've not come here to listen to the complaints of the head of Gryffindor. This issue concerns my son and therefore you don't have anything to do with it. I want to talk to Dumbledore and if you want to be useful, you will guide me to his office."

His grey eyes showed clearly how little he thought of the deputy headmistress.

"Well, this issue has to do a lot with me because one of my students was involved. But I think _Professor Dumbledore", she stressed his title to remind Lucius that he was not the one in charge here, "will be very pleased to meet you. Follow me."_

She turned around and started climbing the staircase again, walking a little faster than normal and never looking back whether Lucius Malfoy could keep up or not. She had already opened the staircase when he caught up with her. They mounted the staircase and Professor McGonagall knocked at Dumbledore's office and entered, closing the door in Lucius Malfoy's face.

"Ah Minerva. What can I do for you? Any problems?"

"Yes. Lucius Malfoy is waiting outside, and he's behaving as if he owns this place."

Dumbledore smiled amusedly. 

"Well, let him in. I've already been expecting him. Thank you Minerva."

McGonagall nodded and opened the door. Lucius Malfoy immediately entered the office and sat down in front of Dumbledore's desk without waiting for an invitation.

McGonagall shook her head and closed the door behind her.

"Well Lucius, with what do I deserve the honour of you visit?"

"Oh, leave that Dumbledore. You know exactly why I'm here, you've send an owl asking me to come here today, remember? By the way, what was your intention, scare the living daylight out of my wife or what? An owl from Hogwarts arriving in the middle of the night, she thought something had happened to our son! Couldn't it have waited until the next day?"

Dumbledore shook his head.

"No, it could not. Something serious has happened _because of your son, but unfortunately he refuses to say anything about the incident, so I thought that maybe you could explain some things to me."_

"Well, what incident and what do you want me to explain? Couldn't you've just written what this is all about?"  
"Again, the answer is no. I wanted to tell you in person because the matter is so grave that I nearly expelled your son. Last Saturday at lunch he cursed a fellow student."

Lucius rolled his eyes.

"That's it? Listen, I don't have time for this rubbish. They're teenagers, of course they try to use curses on each other. That's normal, I'm sure my son is not the only one who does that."

"Yes, but your son is the only one who uses the Calideius curse on his classmates and I'd most eagerly like to know where he has learned it."

Dumbledore stared at Lucius who began to feel uncomfortable in this position. He had always had the impression that the headmaster knew more than he'd ever admit. Of course, Lucius didn't show this.

"So what? I don't know where he learned it. Our library is just huge, maybe he picked up the wrong book and read about it. Or he's learned it here. I really cannot tell where he's got it from."

Dumbledore nodded.

"I thought that would be your answer. I just want to let you know that he will be punished for it. I cannot allow students to use illegal curses on others. I've taken points from his house, he will do detentions until the end of term, and if he puts one more foot out of line, I will forbid him to participate in the Quidditch team. Any serious trouble caused by him and he will be expelled. I will watch your son very closely from now on Lucius, and maybe you should pay more attention to his behaviour as well."

Lucius shook his head in anger.

"You will not tell me how I am to raise my son! You're just an old fool who sees dark conspiracies behind everything because otherwise you would be useless. I don't give a damn about your advice, you don't know anything about my son! I want to talk to Professor Snape immediately!"

"As it is you right for he is the head of your son's house. He will be in the dungeons right now, his lessons have just finished. Unfortunately I cannot guide you there for I have a lot of work to do. But I'm sure you'll find the way on your own. Good Bye Lucius."

Without another word, Lucius Malfoy got up and left the office, slamming the door close behind him.

That old fool was trying to tell him how to raise his son, who did he think he was? He could hardly wait to lay his hands on Draco. If that fool of a son could control himself better, he would not be in the trouble he was now. He had told him uncountable times not to use any of the spells he had taught him. At least he had refused to say anything towards Dumbledore.

Lucius was still fuming as he reached the dungeons. He remembered them quite well from his own time at Hogwarts and quickly found his way to the office of the Potions teacher. He knocked on the door.

"Enter" came Snape's voice from behind and Lucius stormed in his office.

Snape sat behind his desk and had been marking a pile of potions essays that lay in front of him. When he saw Lucius, his expression changed from his normal look of dislike to one of deeply felt disgust.

"Lucius. I guess you are here because your son decided to cause a little fracas last weekend."

"I want to know why you didn't inform me what all this is about. It was quite embarrassing to be informed and questioned by Dumbledore."

Snape raised his eyebrows.

"I didn't inform you, because the headmaster decided that he wanted to do that in person. And I would like to know as well where your son could have learned a spell like that. An illegal spell, Lucius."

"Oh, stop that. It's only a spell, and as I see it, no harm was done. I would have never expected you, especially _you, to consider it such a big thing."_

Snape slowly shook his head.

"You know that I think very highly of your son. Not because he is your son, but because he is extremely bright and because he has internalized a certain attitude which stands straight in the tradition of Slytherin house. But even though, I cannot just let him use illegal curses on fellow students. If I had not come into the Great Hall shortly afterwards, who knows what would have happened. 

You totally underestimate how serious this is. If he had cursed Mr. Weasley with the leg-locker curse, I would not have said anything, but he could have put him into a death-like state with what he's done. Teach your son those spells if you think it's necessary, but if he does something like this again, he will be expelled and I won't do anything to prevent that. I'm sure Dumbledore told you this."

"Wait, wait. He cursed a Weasley? A son of Arthur Weasley, one of the many he has? Nobody would have missed him, there are so many of them, I don't even think Arthur knows how many he has."

"Lucius!" Snape stood up behind his desk. "Whatever you may think of the Weasley family, it doesn't matter here. It's about what your son did, not to whom he did it, don't try to divert from the topic. Now, if you don't have anything to say, leave. I have work to do."

"You know, you have spent too much time with that old fool who runs this school. I just hope you won't regret choosing the wrong allies one day. Where is my son? I need to talk to him."

Snape pulled the Slytherin fifth years schedule out of a drawer of his desk and checked it.

"Your son at the moment attends Care of Magical Creatures. I will guide you to the grounds and then show you a room where you can talk to him if you consider it necessary."

"Yes, I do consider it necessary."

Snape got up. He knew that he could not refuse to let Lucius talk to his son, but he didn't have a very good feeling about it. In the mood Lucius was in right now, he was surely not the one you'd want to be confronted with.

They left Snape's office and went up the stairs towards the door.

As they turned to their left towards Hagrid's hut, they could see that the gamekeeper had lit a fire at the edge of the Forbidden Forest and was about to show them how to prepare food for the four fire eagles that were sitting on the fence of Hagrid's garden. Snape realized relieved that Hagrid had bound them to the fence for they could attack very viciously.

Lucius stayed behind as they had come into earshot, Snape went on towards the classes. Most of the pupils were watching how Hagrid threw the meat pieces into the fire and heated them before he fed them to the fire eagles. Draco Malfoy had his back turned towards the castle and therefore didn't see them coming.

"Hagrid, I'm sorry that I interrupt your lesson, but I have to take Mr. Malfoy with me."

Hagrid nodded. "If ye must Professor."

"Yes Hagrid. Mr. Malfoy, would you please follow me?"

"Where do we go?"

"Your father is here and wants to have a word with you."

Draco spun around and looked at his father. Though he stood maybe two hundred meters away, it was clearly visible that he was very angry. Draco swallowed hard and followed Snape.

"Where will you bring us?"

"I'll leave you in an empty classroom."

Draco nodded, straightened his back and walked on.

"Father." He nodded at Lucius as they reached him.

"Draco." That was all that was spoken until Snape had guided them into the Transfiguration classroom which would be empty until late afternoon.

As soon as Lucius had seen Snape closing the door and supposed that he was out of earshot, he locked the door with a spell and slapped his son's face so hard that Draco fell over the table at his side. Lucius pulled him onto his feet again, slapped his face once more and then hit Draco's solar plexus with his fist.

Draco fell onto the floor and groaned in pain. He could taste blood.

"Father…"

"Stop talking!" He kicked Draco in the side. "You've caused enough trouble! What did I tell you? Answer! What. Did. I. Tell. You?" He stressed every word by kicking his son's side and stomach again and again.

"You told me…not to use anything…you taught me…not here…" Draco could hardly breathe anymore.

"And why don't you follow my instructions? Curse a Weasley in front of other students, you should have known that would bring you into trouble! You're lucky that the old fool didn't throw you out! Why did you curse that idiot?"

"He…provoked…me…"

"Provoked you??? That's all???" Another kick threw Draco, who had just gotten up onto his knees, back onto the floor. Draco felt a crack in his chest telling him that once again his father had broken one of his ribs.

"Sometimes I ask myself what I have done to be cursed with an idiot like you! You're not worth all this trouble! You're not worth the education you received! And now all the teachers in this bloody castle are watching every single step you make! Don't you ever think? You could ruin every plan I've made! Wait until you get home for Christmas, then we'll continue this conversation!" Once more, he kicked Draco in the stomach.

He looked at his son, who had curled up on the floor and held his aching stomach. His nose was bleeding and his left eye already started to swell and turn blue. Tears ran down his face.

"Stop crying like a baby! Malfoys don't cry!"

Lucius waved his wand over his son and the bruises and the blood disappeared. The pain nevertheless remained the same.

Lucius left the room without another word and stormed out of the castle to disapparate as soon as he left the grounds.

It took Draco a long time before he was able to get up. Every single part of his body seemed to be hurting and all he wanted was to get into his dormitory to lie down before the afternoon lessons. He would skip lunch, and then it would only be a single Potions lesson before the weekend would start. 

Draco lifted himself up, leaned on a table for a moment and then slowly limped out of the classroom and towards the dungeons. He was more than thankful that he didn't meet anybody on his way and therefore didn't have to try and walk normal. When he arrived in his dormitory, he carefully lay down on his bed and did something he had not done for a long time – he started crying into his pillow.

"I wonder what Malfoy's father wants here?"

"Oh, I guess he'll congratulate his son for the practical use of the Dark Arts on me!"

Harry, Ron and Hermione were walking back to the castle after their Care of Magical Creatures lesson. Harry looked at Ron.

"Oh come on! Mr. Malfoy didn't look too pleased as he stood there. I don't think Malfoy enjoyed their conversation."

"Yeah, maybe Mr. Malfoy has turned him into a ferret once more as a punishment for making his Dark Art training public…"

Hermione interrupted them as they began to invent the nastiest punishments Mr. Malfoy could have used on his son.

"Stop that, that's childish. We'll see Malfoy at lunch, and I'm sure that he'll look just the same as he looked when he left. Ears the same size as ever." She looked at Ron whose latest suggestion had been that Lucius Malfoy would turn his son into a rabbit.

But Malfoy didn't show up for lunch. His place at the Slytherin table between Crabbe and Goyle remained empty.

"See Ron, I was right. He has turned him into something small. Look, do you see the fly that's buzzing around Goyle's head? The Fly Formerly Known As Draco Malfoy!"

They burst into laughter, but Hermione didn't seem to enjoy their jokes at all.

"None of you would have wanted to be in Malfoy's situation today, I'm sure about that. Stop making fun about it, I don't envy Malfoy for his father."

"Hermione! You won't start pitying that moron! He's insulted you so often, he's never shown any sign of being human, it's his fault that he's in this trouble now. He has cursed me, did you forget about that?"

"Yeah, and you provoked him!"

"But he could have reacted differently! There was no need to get me nearly killed!"

"Ron, Hermione stop that. I won't watch you two start fighting because of Malfoy. If his father punished him, then he has deserved it. We'll see him later on in Potions, then Hermione can make sure that he's still alive."

Harry rose and left the Great Hall. He would never admit it, but he somehow was worried about Malfoy as well. No, that was not the right expression, but he didn't like the idea that Snape had left Malfoy alone with his father. Lucius Malfoy surely never looked happy, but as he had been standing there on the grounds he had seemed close to exploding.

'What do I start worrying about their family problems, Malfoy is a slimy idiot as well as his father. He surely has told him off for causing trouble and only wanted to have a big appearance to show off in front of us.'

He told the Fat Lady the password ('Flobberworm') and entered the common room. He still had an nearly an hour left before the potion lesson and wanted to use this time to revise what they had been supposed to learn. He knew that he would be the first one to be asked about it by Snape.

Ron and Hermione came into the common room ten minutes later. They obviously had continued fighting after Harry had left for they were not talking to each other.

Harry shook his head and focused on his book again. Hermione sat down beside Harry while Ron left for the dormitory.

"Hermione, is it really necessary that you two fight because of Malfoy?"

"It's not because of Malfoy. It's because Ron is a stubborn idiot. And he behaves as if Malfoy was You-Know-Who and had just tried to kill him." She looked at Harry and saw his expression change as he was reminded of Voldemort and how he had killed Cedric once more. "Oh Harry, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…"

"Hermione, it's okay. I know that you didn't mean to hurt me. Calm down again, I'm not angry, I just don't like being reminded of it all." 

Hermione nodded. "Do you need help with your Potion notes?"

"Yeah, the one we did last Monday remains a mystery to me. Can you explain it to me?"

"Sure." Hermione smiled. She liked explaining things and was rather good at it as well.

For the next thirty minutes they sat by the fire, their heads stuck together over the Potions book and Hermione explained last weeks potion to Harry. Then Ron came down from the dormitory and the three set off towards the dungeons.

As usual, they took seats at the back of the room and started to talk to Dean and Seamus about the upcoming Quidditch match Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw. They looked up as Malfoy entered the room, closely followed by Crabbe and Goyle but could not make out any difference on him. His face didn't show what was going on inside of him, but that was rather usual. He sat down at his desk and slowly started unpacking his bag.

Snape entered the room and Harry forced himself to focus on what Hermione hat explained him only minutes ago. Snape appeared to be in an unusually bad mood and immediately started to ask Harry and Neville questions about the sleeping potions they had covered so far.

Harry did rather well, but Neville was a complete mess and cost Gryffindor twenty points in only ten minutes.

Snape shook his head and turned towards the Slytherins to continue the revision.

"Miss Lewis, what is the use of the concentrated toad skin secretion in the Dreamless Sleep Potion?"

Samantha lazily raised her head.

"It reacts with the active substances in the pine needles that were added before. The resulting concentrate blocks off the sub conscience of the person who drinks the potion and therefore enables a dreamless sleep."

As usual, her voice sounded as if she was bored above all else. Snape nodded.

"And what would happen if no pine needles were added?" Nearly every arm rose into the air, even Neville's, for this was a simple question. The warning that if the needles were forgotten the potion would rather produce nightmares than dreamless sleep was printed with large and fat letters in their books. Snape looked around the room.

"Mr. Malfoy?"

Malfoy didn't react.

"Mr. Malfoy, what would happen if no pine needles were added into the potion?" Draco still didn't react but stared unfocussed onto a point somewhere at the wall behind Snape. Drops of sweat had appeared on his forehead and he breathed heavily.

"Mr. Malfoy?" Snape had stepped in front of Malfoy and started waving his hand in front of his eyes. This brought Draco back into reality, he blinked and shortly shook his head.

"Sorry Professor, I'm not feeling very well. May I leave? I'd like to lie down a little."

Snape watched his student with what could nearly be interpreted as concern. 

"Then go into the hospital wing and tell Madam Pomfrey about it. You may leave. Class, I will now show you some ingredients and you will tell me what they are and what their use is in a Sleeping Potion."

Snape turned around towards one of the storage cupboards.

Malfoy raised, stood still for a moment as if he was feeling dizzy, then set off for the door. He managed to make a few steps before he uttered a groan as if he was in pain, staggered and fell unconsciously on the floor.

"Draco!" Pansy started screaming, Snape spun around and ran over to Malfoy. He bent down next to him, then looked up at his students.

"Class dismissed. We'll finish this next week." Having said so, he lifted Malfoy up and left the room, obviously heading for the hospital wing.

Pansy had started crying and was being comforted by Millicent Bulstrode.

Harry looked startled to Ron and Hermione. "What was that?" 

Ron just shook his head. "Maybe he thinks that if people pity him, they'll forget what he's done to me." He packed his bag and left the room.

"Hermione, this is strange. He didn't look ill when he left Hagrid's class this morning. I've never heard that someone could become sick that fast."

Hermione just shrugged her shoulders. "I can't explain either. But I'm sure it has something to do with his father. We'll see. Let's go after Ron before he thinks we establish a Draco Malfoy Fan Club here. He's quite sensitive concerning this topic."

Harry nodded and they too left the dungeon.

A short while later Snape waited in the Hospital Wing for Madam Pomfrey to tell him about the reasons for Malfoy's unconsciousness. After some minutes, Dumbledore joined him.

"Severus, you sent Nearly Headless Nick for me, what's happened? An accident in Potions?"

Snape shook his head.

"Not an accident, at least none that had anything to do with the lesson. Draco Malfoy has been absent minded and told me he was feeling ill, so I sent him up here to see Madam Pomfrey. He really didn't look too well. But as he tried to leave the dungeons, he fainted and fell on the floor.

His state strikes me because when I fetched him from the grounds to meet his father this morning, he seemed to be of good health. I wonder whether Lucius has taken his own means to punish him for cursing Mr. Weasley."

"Did you see anything unusual on him?"

"No. He looked normal, maybe he was paler than usual but that's always difficult to judge in his case. But when I addressed him during the lesson, he seemed to be somewhere totally different, as if he was concentrating very much. He somewhat…seemed to be in pain, I cannot describe it better I'm afraid."  
Dumbledore nodded. "Let's see what Poppy has to say."

They waited for another ten minutes until Madam Pomfrey came walking towards them. Both got up.

"Poppy, why has Mr. Malfoy fainted?"

Madam Pomfrey shrugged her shoulders.

"I really don't know. After the Professor brought him up here, I examined him carefully but could find nothing. It seemed to hurt him when I touched his face, and when I examined his belly he vomited, but I could not find any reason for it. I've given him something against the pain he's in and we'll see how he's doing tomorrow. He's sleeping now."

Snape's forehead frowned. "But there has to be a reason. Nobody faints without a reason. And if he's in pain that has to have a reason."

"That's exactly what I think. But we won't find out until tomorrow, maybe he can tell us what is wrong with him when he wakes up. Right now he needs some sleep."

Dumbledore nodded. "If you find out anything, tell me. I'll be in my office."

He turned around and wanted to leave the room, but before he reached the door, it was pulled open and Pansy Parkinson stood in the doorframe, her face covered in tears.

"Where's Draco? What's wrong with him? I want to see him, he needs me now!"

Snape walked forward and addressed her very taciturn and harsh. "What Mr. Malfoy needs right now is rest and calm. Leave him alone Ms. Parkinson. He really doesn't need your hysteria now."

Pansy wanted to repeat something, but when she saw the look in Snape's eyes, she started crying again, turned around and ran back towards the dungeons. Dumbledore looked after her in disbelief.

"Is this Mr. Malfoy's girlfriend?"

Snape laughed. 

"As far as I know, that's what she wants, but Mr. Malfoy rather considers her to be a pain in the neck."

"I understand."

Dumbledore nodded at Snape and Madam Pomfrey and then left the Hospital Wing.

"Madam Pomfrey, please inform me as well if Mr. Malfoy's state changes. I'll be in the dungeons."

"Sure Professor."

And Snape left. He slowly descended towards the dungeons, lost in thought about the cause of Malfoy's sudden sickness. He was so sure that this had something to do with Lucius' visit, but what? He would not have dared to curse Draco at Hogwarts, the risk of being discovered would have been too high. And if he had beaten him up, there would have been bruises or marks, maybe even broken bones. But he had neither seen such signs nor had Madam Pomfrey mentioned to have found any.

But Draco obviously had already been in pain when he had come into the dungeon, and his unfocussed behaviour could only too well be explained with the amount of concentration it needed not to show any of it. 

If only that boy would finally start behaving human! It would make things a lot easier if there was anybody at Hogwarts who knew what was going on inside of Draco Malfoy, but he would never let anybody get that close. 

Snape shook his head. Getting lost in those thoughts was of no use, it would not lead him to a conclusion. He would have to wait until tomorrow, then he would ask Draco a couple of questions.

He opened the door to his office and tried to prepare for the last lesson of the week, his Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw sixth years.

The Gryffindor Common Room at that time already was a pool of speculations and rumours Rita Skeeter would have been proud of. It seemed that the whole house was assembled there and speculated about the possible causes of Malfoy's sickness. Nobody seemed to be very sorry for him, and why should the be? Malfoy had never treated any Gryffindor nicely.

Only Harry, Ron and Hermione were not participating. They sat in Harry's and Ron's dormitory and talked about the upcoming holidays. Ron was staying at Hogwarts for Christmas, and so were Ron's brothers Fred and George and his sister Ginny.

"Mom and Dad will go on a holiday over Christmas, the first holiday on their own since Bill was born. She owled Fred and George yesterday. Bill is having work to do in Egypt, they have discovered a tomb they've been searching for a long time and it's protected by some particularly vicious spells. And Charlie has been invited by his girlfriend's parents." He grinned. "They met at work. Maybe being in mortal danger the entire day puts emotions free. And Percy says he has so much work to do, he cannot afford having holidays, not even for Christmas."

Ron's eldest brother Bill was working as a curse breaker for Gringott's, Charlie trained dragons in Rumania and Percy worked for the Ministry of Magic.

"Mom and Dad decided that this would be the perfect opportunity to go on a holiday. They'll spent the time in Ireland and visit some old friends from school."

Harry grinned. "Great. Then I won't be left alone here. Though Sirius is here too, of course. It will be the first Christmas we'll spend together. How about you Hermione?"

"Well, my parents wanted me to come home, but I told them that I could not leave school for nearly two weeks now. Not with the O.W.L.s coming up. At home I cannot learn properly, I don't have any possibility to check on things in a wizard library."

Both Ron and Harry grinned. The O.W.L.s were still months away and it was so typical Hermione to be worrying about them already.

"Okay Hermione, off you go now. Ron and I have some Christmas presents to talk about."

Hermione smiled and left the dormitory.

The next day after breakfast, Dumbledore and Snape entered the hospital wing where Draco Malfoy was still lying in bed. Firstly, they went into Madam Pomfrey's office to ask about hit state.

"Poppy, good morning. How is your patient doing?"

"As if he would tell me. Since he's woken up this morning, he's been claiming that he's doing fine and that he wants to go to his dormitory. He refused any further examination. But as I could not find anything yesterday, I don't think that I would be knowing more even if I had once more examined him. I think he is still having pain but not as bad as yesterday. That's all I can say. I would like to keep him here for another day but he refuses that as well. I told him that after you talked to him, he could leave."

Dumbledore nodded but frowned his head. Snape didn't move.

"Well, then I think I better go and have a talk with him. Though I doubt that he would confide me with what has happened to him."

Both teachers turned around and approached Malfoy's bed. The Slytherin sat upright on it, the plate with his untouched breakfast stood on the bedside table. He appeared to be impatient.

"Good morning Mr. Malfoy. How are you feeling this morning?"

"I'm fine. I want to leave now, but the nurse would not let me."

"Really fine? Yesterday you seemed to be suffering from bad pain. Where did that come from?"

Malfoy shook his head.

"I did not suffer from any pain. I…I had hardly eaten anything yesterday, and then I spent time out in the cold, returned into the warmth, then again into the cold dungeons…that made me feel ill and I collapsed. Quite humiliating, I have to admit. But I'm doing fine and want to leave now if that's possible."

Dumbledore nodded.

"Sure, Madam Pomfrey says you can leave. Just one more question. Your father talked to you yesterday, what did he say? He seemed to be quite upset when he came into my office."

"What my father told me really is none of you business Professor."

Dumbledore nodded again.

"Fine. I'm glad to see that you're doing better. Enjoy your weekend."

With this, he turned around and left the hospital wing. Snape remained at Draco's bed and looked at him, one eyebrow raised.

"I'd advice you to change your manner of addressing your headmaster, Mr. Malfoy."

Malfoy looked at him.

"I wondered whether there really is nothing you want to tell me about your father's visit yesterday."

Malfoy shook his head.

"No, there is nothing."

"Fine. Still, if something comes to your mind you might consider worth mentioning, you know where you can find me."

Snape nodded at his student and turned around towards the door.


	7. Attack

**Chapter Seven**

November literally flew by and so did the first weeks of December. The teachers were very eager to keep the fifth years busy and neither Ron nor Harry had time for anything else then homework, study lessons and Quidditch practices. Though she didn't have to practice, Hermione seemed to be off worse. She spent even more time in the library, there were days when she stood in front of the doors even before Madam Pince arrived and had to be thrown out by the librarian late in the evening. To put it in a nutshell, Hermione was frantic about the upcoming O.W.L.s and she was driving Ron insane with it.

During the last week before the Christmas holiday was about to start they got into a serious fight about it.

"Ron, I can't understand that you've not started revising yet."

Hermione glared at Ron who was sitting in the Gryffindor Common Room and had a game of chess with Seamus. Ron looked up at Hermione who stood beside his armchair, hand at her hips.

"Hermione, I struggle hard to keep up with the work we have to do until term is finished. If I start revising now I won't have the time to eat and sleep anymore. I'll start after the holidays."

Hermione shook her head.

"Why not start in the holidays? I mean, you will be here the entire time and could surely find some moments to make up a revision plan."

Seamus saw that an argument was coming and quickly got up and left the Common Room. 

"Hermione, I really don't know why you make such a big deal out of it. The O.W.L.s are still ages away and they're not that important anyway. Why do you care so much?"

"Because the owls are important, believe it or not! They have an influence on our N.E.W.T.s and those have a serious impact on our possible choice of jobs!"

Ron just shook his head in disbelief.

"The N.E.W.T.s Hermione? That's two more years to go! Really, you've gone nuts, I told Harry that this day would come. By the way, why don't you bother Harry with your complaints? He doesn't revise either, but you just lecture me about it!"

Hermione blushed slightly.

"Maybe because I'm not as worried about Harry's grades than I'm about yours. He's doing better in a lot of classes, he doesn't need to revise as much as you do."

"Hermione really, it's none of your business. So why don't you go back to the library now, you've been gone for more than an hour. They'll surely have started a search party for you already."

He gave her a last glare and went into his dormitory. Out of the corner or his eye he could see Hermione storming out of the Common Room, tears in her eyes.

He stormed into the dormitory, slammed the door shut behind him and threw himself onto his bed.

Harry, who had been reading a book on his bed, looked up and raised an eyebrow.

"Ron?"

"What?"

"Hey, no need to be so harsh, I didn't do anything, did I?"

Ron removed the pillow, which he had pressed against his face as if he tried to suffocate himself, and sat upright.

"No you didn't, sorry. It's just Hermione."

Now Harry cocked both eyebrows.

"What about her?"  
"She keeps lecturing me about the revisions for the O.W.L.s. According to her, I should have started revising during second year already. Believe me Harry, she's gone completely nuts!"

Harry had a hard time to suppress his laughter.

"What's so funny about this?"

"Ron really, I don't know if I'm the right person to tell you."

"Tell me what?"

"Oh Merlin. Ronald Weasley, you can be so thick sometimes, it's unbelievable."

Harry shook his head while Ron started scowling.

"Fine, if you don't want to tell me. Just keep your little secret with Hermione, I don't mind."

Now Harry couldn't suppress his laughter anymore, no matter how hard he tried.

"Ron, I don't have a secret with her."

Harry got up from his bed, sat down beside Ron and closed the curtains around the four-poster. After he had put a silencing charm onto them, he turned towards his friend.

"Okay, I'm doing this because I can't stand the constant quarrels between the two of you anymore. But if she ever asks you, tell her that you've found out on your own."

Ron's brow frowned.

"Found out what?"

"Oh Merlin, she will never believe that you figured it out on your own. Ron, for how long do you know Hermione now?"  
"You know exactly that I know her for four and a half years now. What's that all about?"

"Right. Four and a half years. Have you realized something different about her since we came back to school?"

"Erm…she cut her hair during summer?"

Harry sighed. This was harder than he had thought.

"I meant her behaviour towards you."

"Well, she keeps on bothering me with this revision stuff. She's always around trying to get me reading a book or something. What are you up to?"

"What I'm pointing at is that she is caring about what you do. She is worried that you can't keep up so she watches what you do."

"And the point is? She's doing the same with you."

"The point is that she's not doing the same with me. Because she doesn't care for me **that way."**

"Which way…wait! You're not trying to say that Hermione…"

"Yes Ron, finally. I'm saying that Hermione cares a lot more for you than you think she does. Because you're more than just a friend for her."

Ron looked puzzled.

"Harry, you're nuts. She's only talking about books, homework, essays and revision to me, it's not that she's…in love with me if that's what you're pointing at."

"That's exactly what I'm pointing at. Listen, we talk about Hermione here. Hermione. Remember? The one who is always found in the library? Top student of our class? Always carrying around a book? Being so concerned about your studies is just her way to say how she really feels for you."

Ron locked at Harry.

"How can you be sure? She didn't tell you this, did she?"

Now it was Harry's turn to blush a little.

"Well, actually no. She did tell Lavender however, which was a big mistake because Lavender told Parvati. And Parvati told Dean last Hogsmeade weekend when they were in the Three Broomsticks and he told me."

Harry shrugged his shoulders.

"I just decided to tell you because I can't stand it anymore to watch the two dance around each other, each waiting for the other one to make the first step. No, don't contradict Ron, I know you better than you think. I know exactly that you feel more than just friendship for Hermione and that you just didn't tell her because you thought that she didn't feel the same. Well, now you know and this hopefully comes to an end. Besides, I'll win five galleons if you two make it up before the end of the week."

Ron looked flabbergasted.

"You were betting on when Hermione and I would become an issue?"

"Well…yes. But only the four of us here in the dorm. And the twins. And some sixth years…"  
Ron raised his hand and shook his head. He didn't really want to know. For some long moments, the two boys remained silent. Finally, Ron spoke.

"And what am I supposed to do now?"

Again, Harry raised an eyebrow.  
"Talk to her? Take her for a walk and tell her? Snog her senseless at the Astronomy Tower?"

The pillow hit his head before Harry had the time to react.

"Harry James Potter, you are not helping!"

"Ron, it's not like I'm the most experienced person in this."

"Ah yes? And what about Samantha then?"

"Samantha?"  
"Yes, Samantha! Oh, come on Harry, I've seen the way you look at her, you can't tell me that you don't like her."

Harry shook his head.

"Well, even if I did it would be totally out of question. We have hardly spoken five sentences straight since she arrived here and by the way she is in Slytherin! That's totally out of question."

"She's not a typical Slytherin if I might remind you. They don't like her, even Snape seems to hate her."

"Weren't we talking about you and Hermione here? Well, how about a nice romantic Christmas present."

"Like?"  
"Ron really do I have to do everything for you? I can already see me proposing Hermione one day because you don't know how to do it!"

This time, Harry saw the pillow in time and dodged it. Before the two realized it, they were engaged in a big pillow fight which ended with Harry's t-shirt being torn in the struggle over the last intact pillow on the bed.

When they both stepped out of bed, panting, red in the face, covered in feathers and Harry with a torn shirt they found themselves in front of three puzzled looking dorm mates standing in front of them.

Ron's eyes widened.

"Erm…it's not what it looks like. I can explain…"

That was too much. Seamus, Dean and Neville burst out laughing. They laughed so hard that Dean had to support himself on the bedpost, Neville rolled on the floor and Seamus banged his head on the wall.

"Really Ron, Harry, I don't want to know", Dean finally managed to say. "But now I know why Ron never managed to get busy with Hermione."

Harry broke into a grin.  
"Actually Dean, you owe me five galleons. I've just managed to convince Ron of telling her. And this", he gestured at himself and Ron "is just the result of his denial. He rather throws pillows than uses his brain for once."

Dean shrugged and Neville and Seamus seemed to calm down.

"Well, if you say so. But no money until I've seen proof. And you better convince me because I'm not so sure if I believe that you simply had a pillow fight in there…"

Dean was quickly convinced by a pillow hitting his head. Ten minutes later, the fifth year's boys dorm looked as if somebody had blown it up and the five boys were all covered in feathers and didn't look much different from Harry and Ron when they had left Ron's bed.

Ron, much to Harry's dismay, did not have 'the' talk with Hermione that day. But he went into the library and made up a revision schedule for himself with her. 

When thee two came in to Gryffindor Common Room later that evening, they found Harry in front of the fireplace, his Transfiguration notes spread out in front of him. He looked up at them and grinned.

"Hey you two. Been thrown out of the library because of indecent behaviour?"

Ron blushed deep red and Hermione stared at Harry.

"What exactly are you talking about?"  
Harry understood.

"Oh, nothing Hermione, just kidding. Now, how about a nice game of chess? I'm done with my homework for today. Ron? Hermione? Which one of you wants to try and beat me?"

Ron laughed.

"As if you could ever stand so much as a chance against me. But how did you manage to do all you homework in such a short time? Transfiguration, History of Magic and Potions?"

Harry's eyes widened.

"Potions?"

"Em, yes Harry, Potions. You remember? The essay on Sleeping Potions and their antidotes? Four rolls of parchment, due tomorrow morning at ten?"

Harry swallowed hard.

"I'll be right back!"

He jumped up from the chair and ran upstairs to the dormitories. Potions, how could he forget that stupid essay!

Only this morning he had been more than angry with Snape for giving them such a huge essay and so little time to write it.

He rummaged through his trunk in search of his Potions book and notes, but found nothing. 

"Where are those bloody Potions notes?"

Harry spoke to himself and tried hard to remember where he had put those notes when he had come back this morning. They had been in the dungeon, Neville had blown up his cauldron once more and Snape had punished them by giving the essay to all those involved in the incident. Which meant the Gryffindors. Harry had collected his things, put them aside to help Neville with the cleaning up and then…then they had left the dungeons. He had forgotten his book and notes in the dungeons! Great!

Harry slammed his trunk shut and thought for a moment. There was no other choice, he would have to go down and fetch his notes if he wanted to write the essay. He still had slightly more than half an hour time before curfew.

When he came down into the Common Room once more, Hermione and Ron were sitting over their History of Magic books and finished their essays.

"Hey Harry, where do you go?"

"I forgot my Potions book and notes in the dungeons this morning. I will have to get them if I want to write that essay."

Hermione and Ron gave him a sympathizing look.

"But be back before curfew, don't get into trouble please."

"Sure Hermione. I'll be right back."

And Harry climbed through the portrait hole and left for the dungeons. All the way down he cursed himself for having been so stupid.

Why did he have to forget his book and notes in the dungeon that morning? He had completely forgotten about it and now it was close to curfew and he needed to get them to finish his homework. Snape wanted it handed in the next morning, and he didn't want to receive another bad mark in potions.

Harry reached the dungeons and was just about to open the door when he realized that Snape was in there, talking to somebody.

He hesitated and then, against all reason, decided to stay outside and overhear the conversation.

He soon recognized the second voice as Cornelius Fudge from the Ministry of Magic.

"So she really has been brought here?"

"Yes she has."

"But Dumbledore knows that she will be killed by the Dark Lord if he finds her."

"That is right."

Snape's answers were taciturn and cold.

"The fact that she is hidden here will make it a lot easier for the Dark Lord. What about the security precautions?"

"Dumbledore has tightened the precautions this year, and everybody is supposed to keep an eye on her. He thinks that it is safe enough, but I know that the precautions are ridiculous. 

There are a lot of lacks and holes, the castle and its grounds cannot be guarded completely."

"Voldemort will be after her?"

"I don't know about him changing the plan, Cornelius. I have not been informed about changes, so that's what I suppose. She has been marked already, it will save the Dark Lord a lot of time. And time is one thing he doesn't have. Everything is prepared and he thinks that it has already taken too long. Christmas is close, and up to the end of term he surely wants to perform it, otherwise his enemies will be prepared to stand up against him."

"Do you think he knows where she is hidden?"  
"I know that he knows it. I heard another Death Eater talking about it. He said the person he needed was at Hogwarts."

"Then we only have to sit and wait."

"That's all I'm supposed to do right now, you're right Cornelius."

Harry heard a movement in the corridor and turned around. 

Mrs. Norris was standing in front of him and watched. 

Checking his watch, Harry realized that 9.00 p.m. was already close. He could not get into the dungeon anymore, not as long as Snape and Fudge remained there.

He would not be able to do his homework properly, but that didn't matter anymore.

Someone was hidden at the castle, and this person was being searched for by Voldemort. 

Snape finally hat returned to the Death Eaters and he knew about the lack of security precautions around the castle. That's what he heard. And Fudge was on Voldemort's side just as well.

They wanted to wait for Voldemort to catch that person, and it was going to happen within the next few months, maybe even weeks.

Harry walked back to the Gryffindor common room, Mrs. Norris at his heels.

He had to tell someone, but whom? Everybody here at school trusted Snape and no one would listen to him but only ask why he had been at the dungeons at that time.

Dumbledore maybe would listen, but he surely wouldn't believe him.

Sirius!

That was the answer. He had to sneak out to tell Sirius, his godfather surely would believe him.

He only had to wait until everybody had gone to bed, then he would sneak out. For a moment he thought about telling Ron and Hermione about what he had just heard but then decided against it. Ron would tell him to go to Dumbledore and Hermione would try to hold him back from sneaking out. They would not understand how urgent it was to reach Sirius. And if they against all reason would decide to come with him, they would only get into trouble if they were caught. No, he would do it alone this time.

He found Ron and Hermione still sitting over their essays when he got back. He told them that his notes had not been in the dungeons and Ron offered him his notes. Harry quickly finished his essay and went to bed. Ron followed only minutes afterwards.

Harry checked the time on the alarm clock on his bedside table again. It was half past eleven now and for more than half an hour he had heard no sound from the others than now and then a low snore or the sound of someone turning around in bed. 

He decided that they were all asleep and that it would be safe to sneak out now.

He pulled the invisibility cloak over his robes, opened up the curtains of his four-poster and left the room.

The common room was empty and the fire had burned down. Harry opened the portrait hole and stepped outside.

He knew he was not only breaking the school rules but also the promise he had given Sirius, but he needed to tell him what he had overheard. And it could not wait any longer.

Snape was up to something, and he could tell nobody here at school. They all trusted Snape but Sirius surely would understand. 

He didn't know what exactly Snape had been speaking about, but there was a girl here at school who was in mortal danger if Voldemort found out her whereabouts, and Snape was obviously only waiting for Voldemort to come.

He reached the secret passage to Hogsmeade, then checked on the Marauder's Map that nobody was in the corridor with him, and opened it.

He had been in that passage before, it would take him half an hour to reach the cellar of Honeydukes, the sweet shop, then he could climb out of the window and go to Lupin's house.

Only a couple of minutes after Harry had closed the passage, the fracas in Hogwarts began.

If Harry still had been there, he could have been seen groups of hooded figures enter the castle through the front doors and spread in the corridors. 

They seemed to know exactly where they had to go to, they were all heading for the dormitories and the common rooms of the houses.

Snape didn't hear them coming, though.

He had been guarding the corridors on the third floor and was now replaced by Filch.

"Mrs. Norris is quite exited this night. She knows something is about to come."

Snape let out something like a laugh.

"Then maybe you should send up Mrs. Norris to Sybil Trelawney to let her check whether she has the true talent of a seer. But please, try to keep an eye on the corridors as well and not only on your cat."

With this, he strode off first into his office once more and then he wanted to check the Slytherin common room. 

If somebody was still awake, he would send them to bed and if not, he wanted to make sure that everything was all right there and no intruders were walking along.

He had only been in his office for five minutes searching the cupboards for the ingredients his third years would need the next day when he heard a loud sound from outside, as if a suit of armour had been smashed. 

'Peeves', he thought, 'this time it is enough. I'll tell the Bloody Baron about it.'

He extinguished the lights and went out of his office, when he heard another smashing sound. 

Snape hurried onwards down the corridor, and then he saw Filch.

The caretaker was lying on the floor between the remains of a rusty suit of armour, blood running out of a wound at the back of his head. 

Snape bent down to check Filches pulse and breathing, when he heard somebody calling him.

"Severus, there are Death Eaters in the castle."

He turned around and saw Professor McGonagall hurry towards him. 

"I have seen a group of them walking over to the Hufflepuff common Room and sent Prof. Sprout to tell Dumbledore. They have tried to get into Gryffindor Tower just as well, but by now they haven't been successful. Professor Flitwick is there and tries to hinder them. There are too many, we have to do something!"

Snape rose up.

"They will be trying to get into the Slytherin dungeons. The one they search for is there. Minerva, we have to hurry."

"What about Filch?"  
"He will be all right, he is just knocked out"

They started running towards the dungeons. All of a sudden, a sting of pain shot into Snape's left forearm and the Dark Mark appeared.

"Minerva, the Dark Lord knows where she is. He will have them to get her, we have to hurry! Why didn't I go to the dungeons straight away?"

They reached the dungeons and saw that the entrance had been smashed. That had obviously been the second smash Snape had heard on his way here.

Both stepped into the Slytherin common room and found it in chaos. 

Snape saw that most of his students had been stunned and lay on the floor. Three Death Eaters were standing in the middle of the room, wands raised.

"Expelliarmus!"

Both, Snape and McGonagall had raised their wands and together their surprise attack had unarmed them. McGonagall stunned them while Snape already ran towards the girl's dormitories.

On his way there, he met two other Death Eaters, both of whom he unarmed and stunned. He reached the fifth years girl's dormitory, where Pansy Parkinson tried to hide behind a bed together with a younger girl Snape didn't recognize at an instant.

"Ms. Parkinson, are you two all right?"  
"Yes, Professor. Did they go away?"

"The ones that were in here did so. Listen, just stay here and hide, but answer me one question. Where is Ms. Lewis?"

"When that fracas started, some of the girls ran out to the boy's dormitories. I think she was with them."

Snape turned around.

"Stay here until a teacher fetches you. No need to be scared, but stay here and remain calm."

He closed the door behind him and walked over to the boy's dormitories. On his way, he found Crabbe and Goyle who were lying on the floor, being stunned as well.

He heard Samantha screaming behind a door.

"Draco, no!"

He stormed in, unarming the Death Eater that had raised his wand against Samantha. As he turned around, he saw that Draco Malfoy was struggling with another intruder. Not seeing any chance to unarm him, he went to the fighting couple, grabbed the neck of the Death Eater and hit his fist against the opponent's chin.

"Mr. Malfoy, take Ms. Lewis and hide behind the beds."

Draco struggled free and took Samantha by the wrist, pulling her behind a bed next to the wall.

The Death Eater had gotten up again, he stormed towards Snape, but then, all of a sudden, he stood still and vanished. Again, Snape felt a sting on his left forearm.

"You two, stay in here and lock the door. I will be back in a minute!"

Back in the common room, Professor McGonagall stood there and looked around puzzled.

"They disapparated. But they could not have…not on Hogwarts ground… and they were stunned…Severus, how could they…?"

"The Dark Lord will have found a way. Go to Gryffindor Tower, you might be needed there. I will take care of the students here."

McGonagall left and Snape turned to wake up the stunned students.

"Listen to me carefully. The intruders are gone and there is no danger for you anymore. Stay here and remain calm. Help each other, if needed. I will go and fetch the ones who are still in the dormitories. I'll be back soon. If anything happens, call me. We will go to the Great Hall."

He first went and told Parkinson and the other girl to go into the common room, then checked the other girl's dormitories which were empty and finally went to the boy's dormitories.

He knocked at the door. 

"Snape here, let me in!"

Malfoy opened the door. Samantha was still hiding behind the bed. She was crying like mad.

"Are the two of you all right?"  
"I'm fine Professor, but Samantha is completely messed up. I could not calm her down, she just repeatedly said it was all her fault."

Much to Malfoy's surprise, Snape went over, pulled Samantha onto her feet and lifted her chin with his hand.

"Look at me Samantha. They are gone. No one will do any harm to you, do you understand? We will go to the great hall now, it will all be all right. Understand?"

"Yes."

He hugged her shortly.

He turned around to Malfoy. "We'll better go to the common room now."

Malfoy, who had been thrown out of bed by intruders he only knew too well and then had been locked up with a hysterical girl now really got confused by the sight of Professor Snape hugging a student to calm her down.

"Well,…yes Professor."

They reached the common room where everybody still was standing around in shocked silence.

"Okay students, as far as I know the intruders have vanished. Nothing here endangers you anymore. We will all now leave for the Great Hall, so please stick together. Is anybody missing?"

"No sir" Millicent Bulstrode looked at him "only Draco and Samantha were still missing, but you brought them with you."

"Okay. I will walk in front and the seventh year students will walk at the back. Stay together and don't leave anybody behind. Call if you see something unusual."

So the Slytherins left their common room and walked towards the Great Hall. No sign of the Death Eaters was seen, but here and there a suit of armour had fallen down or a picture was damaged.

Shortly before they reached the Great Hall, they were joined in by the group of Hufflepuffs led by Professor Sprout. She looked at Snape.

"My students are complete, is anybody from your house missing, Professor Snape?"

"No, fortunately not. Let's hope that it stays so."

They entered the Great Hall where the Ravenclaw students were already standing in a corner.

Dumbledore stood in the middle of the room. He had just waved the tables to the side of the room with his wand and now conjured mats and sleeping bags for the students.

Professors Sprout and Snape stepped over to the headmaster.

"Professor Sprout, are your students okay?"

"Yes headmaster. All of them are there. The Death Eaters haven't even gotten into our common room. The children are only confused."

"Good. Severus, please tell me that none of your students is missing as well."

"Fortunately I can. There were seven Death Eaters in the common room and in the dormitories, most students had been stunned. But they will recover, nobody got hurt."

"Miss Lewis?"

"She's fine, only a little upset. She and Mr. Malfoy were attacked, but I came in time. How could they apparate and disapparate on Hogwarts grounds?"

"I don't know Severus, I don't know."

"What about Filch?"

"He will be brought here by Madam Pomfrey. She will stay with the students. Ah, the Gryffindors, hopefully complete as well.

Students, if you will please listen to me!"

The Great Hall became silent.

"I know that all of you are shocked, but nothing is here to endanger you anymore. I will have to talk to your teachers right now, so we will leave the room. I leave the prefects in charge, send one of the ghosts if we are needed, we stay close to the hall. 

I also leave Professor Flitwick, Hagrid and Madam Pomfrey with you."

With this he gestured the rest of the teachers to come with him.

As soon as they had left the hall, McGonagall turned to Dumbledore. "Albus, one of my students is missing."

"Who?"

"Harry Potter."

"Oh no. Did anybody see what happened to him?"

"No. There were Death Eaters in Gryffindor Tower, but none of the students had seen Potter during the fracas."

"We will have to search for him. I have already send an owl to Lupin. He will bring Black along, I'm sure."

"Where do we start searching?"

"I don't know, Professor McGonagall. If he still was in Gryffindor Tower when the attack started, then maybe he is still there and has hid himself.

Minerva, you stay with Professor Sprout and search the Gryffindor Tower. Severus and I will search the floor and the corridors beneath, the rest will spread across the castle in pairs. We'll meet here in half an hour."

A voice came from behind.

"Whom are you searching for?"

"Remus. Would you come with Severus and me?"

They turned around and walked into an empty room. Remus Lupin and the black dog at his side followed them. 

Professors McGonagall and Sprout left for Gryffindor tower, the other teachers went off in different directions.

Meanwhile Harry had reached Honeydukes and made his way out of the window. He left it open so that he could climb in again later. Then he ran towards the edge of Hogsmeade, heading for Lupin's house.

He found it empty. The front door had not been locked and the two beds had been used, but now were left. 

In the bedroom that obviously belonged to Professor Lupin he found a note on the bedside table. The small owl that had delivered it sat beside it.

Harry took up the note and read it.

_Remus, we're being attacked._

_I need both of you at the castle._

_Dumbledore_

'Oh my god', Harry thought, 'it has already begun. I have to get back to the castle.'

And so he wrapped himself in the cloak and ran back to Honeydukes and into the secret passage.

When Dumbledore closed the door, Sirius changed back into human shape.

"What's going on here, Dumbledore?"

"Sirius, Remus, we have been attacked by Death Eaters. They apparated on the grounds, we don't know how they did that. They tried to get into the common rooms. Slytherin and Gryffindor students have been attacked, but fortunately nobody got hurt. Only…"

Sirius interrupted him. "What about Harry?"

"We don't know. He is the only one who's missing. Strangely, nobody saw him during the attack and nobody saw that he was taken away, either. Maybe he has hid somewhere, that's why we're searching for him now."

"I will change shape. Maybe I can find his trace and lead to where he's gone."

"If he did not disapparate with the Death Eaters, that could be a possibility to find him."

Sirius changed shape again and started running towards Gryffindor tower. He sniffed around a couple of minutes, then he had obviously found a trace and ran down the corridor.

"That is useless", Snape gasped while running behind Sirius, "the trace could be old and lead us to the library or to the restrooms."

"But maybe it leads us to Harry. Trust Sirius, he knows what he's doing."

"Well, Remus, unfortunately I cannot be as optimistic as you are, but we will see."

Sirius had stopped and changed back into human shape again. "The trace ends here. And it is fresh." He said that with a glance at Snape.

"Here at the wall?"

"That's not only a wall, Severus. It's a passage. Just tip the statue with your wand, right here, and it opens up."

The statue swung aside and the passage opened.

"Where does it lead to?" Snape still was not convinced.

"Hogsmeade." Sirius looked startled. "Harry knows that passage. Maybe he went down to Hogsmeade to fetch me when it all started. Or to hide."

Dumbledore shook his head.

"I don't think so. Nobody saw Harry in Gryffindor tower after the attack started. He must have gone down there before."

Sirius looked at him. "So you think the fact that he has vanished doesn't have anything to do with the Death Eaters?"

"Yes, that's what I think."

"But why should he have done that?"

"I'm eager to find out, but we will have to wait until he comes back. One of us has to stay here and the rest will go back into the Great Hall."

"May I ask you one favour, Dumbledore?"

"What favour, Sirius?"

"When Harry comes back and his disappearance really had nothing to do with the attack, let me deal with him first. I have got some things I like to tell him about sneaking around at night and scaring people."

"We'll see to that."

"I will stay here, headmaster", Snape placed himself beside the statue, "that will be quite a surprise for Mr. Potter."

"Good Severus. Bring him to the Great Hall and call me out when he comes back."

Harry ran through the passage as fast as he could. If only nothing had happened to Ron, Hermione, Sirius and the others. If only I don't come too late and Snape has already helped Voldemort to find that girl. Please, don't let me be too late.

He reached the staircase and stormed up to the entrance, opened the door and ran directly into Snape.

"Potter! I've been expecting you."

Harry looked at him in disbelief. So he had failed.

"I need to see Professor Dumbledore immediately."

"What you need is training in sticking to the rules and a really good excuse for what you've done tonight to save you from being expelled. Come with me. You are being awaited."

Harry followed Snape who walked down the corridors in silence. He was obviously enjoying this. They eventually reached the Great Hall.

"You wait here!"

Snape opened the door and gestured into the room.

Moments later, Dumbledore got out.

"Professor, there is something I need to tell you…"

"That can wait, Mr. Potter. Follow me."

Dumbledore's voice was cold.

Again, Harry walked through dark corridors in silence. They reached the gargoyle that marked the entrance to Dumbledore's office.

Dumbledore halted, said "Liquorice" and started climbing the staircase. Harry and Snape followed him. 

At the top of the staircase, Dumbledore came to a halt again and looked at Harry.

"Go into my office. We will talk later."

"But Professor…"

"You have caused enough trouble for tonight. Just once, do as you're told."

Harry entered the office and closed the door.

Looking around, he saw Sirius sitting in a chair in front of Dumbledore's table, watching him with an expression Harry had never seen before on him. Nevertheless, he was glad to see his godfather, now he could tell him everything.

"Sirius, good that it's you. I have to tell you something I heard Snape tell. About Vol…"

"What did you think you were doing tonight?"

Sirius got up and stepped closer to Harry. He watched down on his godson as he yelled at him.

"Have you gone totally out of mind? What did you think you were doing?"

"Sirius, I needed to talk to you, it was urgent."

"What did I tell you about talking to me?"  
"Sirius…"

"What did I tell you?" He yelled even louder.

"You told me to send an owl and to wait for an answer, but…"

"There is no 'but'. You made a promise, remember that? And what do you do? Take the first opportunity to sneak out in the middle of the night. Do you know what happened here in the last hour?"

"I…I found a note at your place, that's why I came back."

"You should not have gone there in the first place. I get woken up by Remus who tells me that Hogwarts is being attacked, I hurry to the castle just to find out you were gone. What do you think I felt like? Everybody thought they took you with them. 

The teachers searched the castle for you. 

We were expecting the worst, just because you simply cannot stick to the rules!"

"But the attack was what I wanted to tell you about!"

"What? So why didn't you go to Dumbledore?"

"I didn't know that it would come so early. I only heard Snape talking to Fudge, Sirius, he's known about it. He talked about a girl who is hidden here in school because Voldemort wants her dead. I could not go to Dumbledore, he would not have believed me."

At that moment, Sirius lost control, stepped closer to Harry and yelled even louder.

"That's all? That's why you did this?

You never listen to people around you, nor do you ever believe what they say. Of course we expected an attack on Hogwarts because we knew Voldemort wanted someone we keep here!

But haven't I told you at the beginning of the year that whatever would happen, Snape would not be involved? 

Do you think, Dumbledore, the rest of the teachers and me are complete idiots? Or don't you trust me?

Harry, you were endangering people around you just because you always think you know better. Rules mean nothing to you, do they?

But this time, you've gone too far.

You broke the rules, even worse, you risked your own life and mine as well. What if anybody had seen you sneaking up to Lupin's house in the middle of the night?

I trusted a secret to you, a secret my life depends on, and the way you behave you could as well write a letter to the Daily Prophet telling them where I hide. 

You gave me a promise and you broke it. 

Worse, you disappointed people who trusted you and you scared a lot of people. Hermione and Ron are surely worried about you whereabouts. Your friends are being attacked and you just left without telling anybody, what do you think they feel like?

You really disappointed people. You disappointed Dumbledore, your teachers, your friends and you disappointed me.

I would have expected better from you, Harry."

Sirius turned around and left the room.

Harry just stood there and shook his head. He could not believe it. 

He had only wanted to help, and now Sirius shouted at him like that. 

Dumbledore stepped into the room.

"Harry, Professor Snape will bring you to the Great Hall now. I want you to lie down to sleep immediately, I don't want to hear any complaints. No talking. We will talk tomorrow. Right now I have more important things to do than punishing a student who is unwilling to stick to the rules. Go now."

Harry left and followed Snape down to the Great Hall. He could tell by the expression on Snape's face that he had overheard his conversation with Sirius. Snape looked very pleased.

"I always knew that sneaking around would bring you into serious trouble once, Potter. Enjoy your last tour through the castle."

With this, he opened the door of the Great Hall and let Harry in. 

Harry walked over to an empty sleeping bag at Ron's left side and lay down.

"Harry", Ron whispered, "where have you been? We've been worried. What happened?"

"Leave me, Ron. I have problems enough."

That night, Harry found no sleep.

The next morning, Professor McGonagall led them back to Gryffindor tower. The entrance had been repaired temporarily and the common room had been tidied up.

"Go and tidy up your dormitories. First lesson will be cancelled today, breakfast begins in an hour, I will fetch you. Afterwards you will be guided to your classes by a teacher."

She turned towards Harry.

"Mr. Potter, I'm taking you to Professor Dumbledore now. Follow me."

Harry walked with her to Dumbledore's office. She led him in and then left.

"Good morning Harry."

"Good morning, Professor."

"Please, have a seat. This will take a little longer."

Harry sat down.

"I have never seen anything compared to what happened last night, not in all my years at Hogwarts. Would you please be so kind to tell me why you left the castle?"

Harry told him the story he had wanted to tell Sirius. After all that he had been told by his godfather, he felt very stupid about what he had done.

After he had finished, Dumbledore looked at him for a while, but his expression did not show the same friendliness it had always shown before.

"So what you're telling me is that you overheard parts of a private conversation of one of your teachers, then suspected Professor Snape of being Voldemort's ally, and instead of telling me or Professor McGonagall about it, you sneaked off in the middle of the night, even though you were on curfew, to leave the castle for Hogsmeade. There you wanted to tell your godfather, who has to hide from the Ministry and stays at the place which is most dangerous for him only because of you, about your suspicion.

In the meantime, the castle is being attacked and you're the only one who's missing. Everybody is worried and the teachers start searching the castle for you."

"Well, I guess that's it, yes."

"Harry, I'm disappointed. I would have thought better of you.

I have been very broad-minded about punishing you in the last years. This has to end. This time you have gone too far. You can finish this year at Hogwarts because at the moment I cannot afford the time to find a place where you can stay safely during term, but you won't be able to come back next year. You will be expelled. I cannot keep students who consciously endanger the life of other's.

You may go now. Professor McGonagall will bring you back to your dormitory."

Harry was not shocked. He had expected to be expelled. He had seen no other possibility as he had thought about it during the last night.

"Professor, I don't want to bother you, but can I ask you one more question?"

Dumbledore looked at him.

"Is Sirius still staying in Hogsmeade?"

"No, he left. We thought it would be more secure for him and he agreed. I don't know where he went to, but he will surely let you know."

He looked down onto the parchments that lay on his desk, signalling Harry that their conversation was over.

"Okay."

Harry turned around and left.

Professor McGonagall waited for him beside the Gargoyle and walked him back to the Gryffindor tower.

"You have half an hour left to prepare for lesson. Go upstairs and collect your things together."

Harry went into the dormitory where Ron, Neville, Seamus, Dean and Hermione were waiting for him.

"Harry!" Ron came over to him. "What happened?" He looked at his friend. "Where were you last night and why did McGonagall take you to Dumbledore this morning?

Harry looked at his shoes as if they were very interesting all of a sudden.

"I'm in trouble. Last night I wanted to see Snuffles in Hogsmeade and so sneaked off. I got caught, Snuffles shouted at me, Dumbledore expelled me and Snuffles left without another word. That's the short version, and I don't want to talk about it."

"Expelled you?" Hermione had gotten up. "Why?"

Harry looked up. "Breaking the rules? He said that punishment would be a lot harder this year, and I really earn it. I'm allowed to finish this year and take my O.W.L.s, but I won't come back next year. And now I got to find my herbology book, I don't want to be late."

And he started searching his trunk. Behind his back, Ron gestured everybody out of the room and closed the door. Then he stepped over to Harry.

Harry looked up and realized that he could not hold back his tears.

Ron didn't say a word but pulled Harry up to his feet and took him into his arms.

"It's not that I care about being expelled. I earn it. It's Sirius. He was so disappointed, I have never seen him like that before. And now he's gone because I put him in danger, because I didn't think before I acted.. It's all my fault. Since last year, I have done anything wrong that I could."

"Sirius cares about you. He won't have left forever. He has not been an angel himself, he knows that people make mistakes. Think about when he sent Snape into the Shrieking Shack at full moon, that's not been one of his greatest deeds either. He will send you a message as soon as he's found a place to hide. Calm down, it won't turn out as bad as you imagine it."

"I hope you're right."

"Let's go to breakfast, I'm starving."


	8. Breaking Point

_Hi everybody! *waves around shyly*_

_As you realize, no, this story is not dead. _

_Thanks to everybody who asked about it during the last couple of weeks, especially Maryanne. Here you go girl, I promised there would be another chapter!_

**_Special credits for the fact that this story continues go out to EVA! Thank you ever so much, girl!!!!!_**

_Without her help and – even more important – suggestions on how to close my gaps in the storyline, I would surely not have continued this story. This chapter goes out to you Eva!  So, everybody who is happy that No Longer Safe goes on, please say your thank yous to Eva. And if you're already there, check out her fics. *g*_

_So, no longer babbling here, on you go with the story. Not that much actually happens in this chapter, but it's a connection to the parts I've already written. Things are starting to move, and there'll be some surprises soon. Until then, hope you enjoy it. Let me know what you think!_

_Enjoy!_

****

**Breaking Point**

If Harry had thought that everything would soon turn out to become normal again, like it had miraculously done so many times in the past, then he soon learned that this wasn't the case this time. Life could be a bitch sometimes, and once more she had chosen to torture The Boy Who Lived.

Harry was expelled from Hogwarts, he would have to leave the only home he had ever known after the end of this school year.

Slowly, it became a fact Harry couldn't deny anymore. He knew that Professor Dumbledore wouldn't have expelled him if it hadn't been for serious reasons, and Harry had to admit that the stunt he had pulled in the night of the attack had been the most stupid thing he had ever done. Why had he sneaked out of the castle, despite better knowledge? Why hadn't he gone to Dumbledore before and told the headmaster what he had overheard in the dungeons? Dumbledore would surely have told him that there was no need to worry, that it had been a misunderstanding.

And why hadn't he even sent an owl to Sirius and told him about his suspicion against Snape? He had been so stupid, running out alone without telling anybody, especially since the teachers at the castle tried to do anything to protect him from Voldemort and the Death Eaters. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

If he had only talked to Ron and Hermione before he had sneaked off, his friends would surely have prevented this from happening. But then again, Harry was glad that he had not done it. Harry was sure that not even them could have prevented him from going to Sirius, and then Ron and Hermione would have come with him. No, it was better this way, Harry couldn't stand the thought that his friends would get expelled because of his stupidity.

What really bothered Harry about that night was that he had endangered Sirius. His godfather had been right, if anybody had seen him sneaking off to Professor Lupin's house, then the danger would have been there that this somebody had drawn the right conclusion. A great way to pay Sirius back for all the dangers he took to be close to Harry in case something happened. The first opportunity and Harry had nearly given his godfather's hiding place away.

Two weeks had passed since the incident and Harry still had no news from Sirius. He had asked Professor Lupin once, but all he had received as an answer had been the shake of his head and a pained expression in his Professor's eyes. Lupin had not heard from Sirius either and he was concerned about this, that much Harry could tell. His DADA teacher didn't treat him any different from before, but Harry knew that Lupin blamed him for again putting Sirius in danger. He just knew it.

And even though Lupin didn't behave openly antagonistic towards Harry, he was the exception. The news that Harry Potter had been expelled from Hogwarts had spread around school like a wildfire. Harry didn't know exactly, but he guessed that one of the Creevey brothers had let something slip in History of Magic, and then the Hufflepuffs had known. And everybody knew about the Hufflepuffs' liking for good gossip. So, after two days the entire school had known about Harry's expulsion and the Slytherins found great delight in it. Strange but true, only Draco Malfoy didn't use every single opportunity to tease Harry about it, but then again the blond Slytherin had distanced himself from his usual taunts against Harry and his friends ever since he had cursed Ron. Malfoy himself was walking on a thin edge close to expulsion, he knew that he couldn't afford another entry in his records right now. And Harry couldn't care less about what Malfoy did or didn't right now. 

Whenever not in classes, Harry spent his time brooding over his possibilities. Not that he had many of them, not at all. At the end of the year, he could either go back to his aunt and uncle and search for a job in the Muggle world, which was totally out of question, or he could try his luck in the wizarding world. Maybe he could enrol at Beauxbatons for his sixth year, if he learned a bit of French it should be possible for him to at least finish his education. And in Beauxbatons he would not be completely alone against Voldemort and the Death Eaters who were still hunting him. That was, if Madam Maxime would want him in Beauxbatons. He should talk to Hagrid about it. After all, which headmaster would want a boy who was hunted by the world's most evil wizard enrol at his school, especially since this boy had proven to be incapable of following rules for his own protection.

Well, he still had a couple of months left until the question of his future would become a pressing matter, so Harry kept on playing with various ideas in his mind. His biggest concern was that he would have to return to the Dursleys during the holiday. He didn't see any other opportunity, actually. Even if there was another place where he could be guarded just as well as at Privet Drive, which according to Dumbledore there wasn't, the Dursleys still were Harry's legal guardians until he came of age. And that was years away.

More and more often, Harry asked himself why all this always happened to him. What could he possibly have done wrong in his previous life to deserve something like this?

Ron and Hermione had tried to coax Harry into talking about it or at least behaving normally ever since that fateful night, but Harry had blocked all their efforts. He didn't want to talk about it, and even less did he want to behave as if nothing had happened. His whole life had turned upside down because of his own stupidity and there they were, trying to tell him that everything would be alright? Harry didn't think so. 

He spent most of his time away from the common room to avoid Ron and Hermione. He knew that they didn't deserve it, they were only concerned about him, but after the end of the year Harry would be gone anyway. Ron and Hermione would find new friends, so why shouldn't they start now? They would stop worrying about him as soon as they realized that it was in vain, Harry only tried to make it easier for them. And their life without him would be better by far. Too often they already had been in danger because of him, he would not let this happen again. Not if he could prevent it.

With a sigh Harry put the last piece of toast into his mouth and collected his book bag. Checking the Marauder's Map that nobody was in the corridor, he opened the door to the small room that was hidden behind a tapestry.

During the last two weeks, Harry had avoided eating in the Great Hall with the others whenever possible. He had thought that he had gotten used to people staring at him, but now he knew that he wasn't. When he had entered the Great Hall on the morning after the news about his expulsion had spread, everybody in the room had been watching him, watching and whispering. So now Harry either ate very early or very late to avoid the rush of students, or he didn't go into the Great Hall at all and instead paid Dobby in the kitchens a visit. The house elf's liking for 'Harry Potter sir' had not diminished and he seemed to be more than glad that his friend now came by every other day to ask for some food.

Harry left the small secret room he had discovered with the help of the Marauder's Map and made sure that the entrance was completely hidden behind the tapestry again. He would give the map to Ron before he left, after all, he wouldn't need it anymore.

Reluctantly, Harry made his way down towards the dungeons. Double Potions with the Slytherins, exactly what he needed now. 

Ever since he had been expelled, Snape seemed absolutely over the moon with joy, gloating over Harry's misery as if he had just achieved his life-time-goal. Also, Harry didn't know why he should still bother about lessons at all. Truly, he had to take his O.W.L.s at the end of term, and if he really went to another wizarding school then he would have to take Potions class there just as well, but all that didn't seem reason enough to bear with Snape's attitude now.

Nevertheless, Harry decided that he didn't need to cost Gryffindor more points by not appearing for lesson, so he continued his descend down towards the Potions classroom. He arrived just in time, like he usually did, and took the next free seat without really looking whom he sat down next to.

Samantha Lewis. 

She was a Slytherin, but Harry thought this was better than dealing with Malfoy and his cronies or with Ron and Hermione and their concern right now. Besides, Samantha was anything but the typical Slytherin. Harry had never seen her show the typical Slytherin attitude towards anybody. To be honest, he had never heard her speak to anybody outside of class. Ever since Snape had started taking points off his own house because of her, her housemates avoided her like a plague. The rest of the Slytherins showed Samantha quite clearly that she wasn't one of them, despite anything the Sorting Hat might have thought in that matter.

Another outsider, just like Harry himself was one now. How fitting.

Just after Harry had sat down, Professor Snape entered the dungeon and made his way towards his table, black robes billowing behind him. 

"Today we will continue our lesson on Sleeping Potions with the most complicated of them all, the Draught of the Living Death. Who can tell me why it is also considered to be the most dangerous sleeping potion?"

As usual, Hermione's hand was in the air before Snape had even finished his question and as usual, Snape ignored her. 

"Ms. Patil?"

Parvati looked up from the Witch Weekly she had been reading under her desk and blushed. 

"Erm…because…because it is addictive?"

Snape nodded.

"Can anybody elaborate that more in detail?"

He looked around the classroom, again ignoring Hermione's attempts to make noticed that she knew the perfect answer, until her eyes finally settled on Samantha.

"Ms. Lewis?"

Samantha looked up, her eyes not showing any emotion except from extreme boredom.

"The Draught of the Living Death holds that name because of its potential to block out any subconscious activity of the mind. The dangerous part of he potion is not its quality as a sleeping potion, but the fact that it prevents the mind from digesting any daily input subconsciously. Though extremely helpful in the case of an acute trauma that prevents the one who takes the potion from sleeping without it, it is not only highly addictive but also bears the danger of a psychological shock. Meaning that once the potion is no longer taken, the mind of the person will start to work subconsciously again during sleep, and the events that have not been processed so far will be processed now. The Draught of the Living Death should therefore not be taken to suppress nightmares unless the situation leaves no other opportunity. Instead, it is often used to treat patients directly after a strong psychological shock to get them through the first night, leaving them to deal with it during the following day."

Hermione lowered her hand, her mouth agape. This had been a text-book explanation and judged from the look on her face it had been even more complete than the one Hermione had wanted to give.

But Snape didn't acknowledge Samantha's answer by giving points, he merely nodded and waved his wand at the blackboard. The instructions for making the Draught immediately showed up.

"Now, we will brew the potion today, but though I guess that there are those amongst you who have _terrible events in their life that keep them from sleeping", his words dripping with sarcasm he turned his eyes on Harry, "we won't be able to test the potion amongst you, as Ms. Lewis' explanation should have told you. Instead, I'll collect a sample from each pair to test and grade until Friday. That's it, why haven't you started working yet?"_

With a sigh, Harry turned towards Samantha who, much to his surprise, gave him a pained roll with her eyes. 

"Let's get this started, don't you think?"

Harry nodded and pulled out his potions ingredients while Samantha went towards Snape's desk to get some asphodel and wormwood which wasn't part of their standard equipment. 

"How about I make that wormwood infusion while you prepare the asphodel root?"

Harry nodded at Samantha and began to cut the root free from the rest of the asphodel plant, then washed and peeled it before he started powdering. The root was tenacious and hard to pulverize, so Harry had a tough job to do while Samantha was busy measuring the ingredients right for the wormwood solution.

After twenty minutes, Harry was finished and helped Samantha with measuring the remaining ingredients. They set their potion to simmer for five minutes, preparing to add the asphodel after that.

While Harry cleaned away the ingredients that weren't needed anymore, he shot Samantha a shy smile. The Slytherin girl actually was fun to work with. She was focussed on the task, knew what she was doing, but she didn't scold Harry when he was about to add an ingredient at the wrong time. Instead, she just grabbed his wrist and pushed it back, telling him that he had nearly produced a poison with a sly smile in her eyes.

"Oh, we wouldn't want to poison Snape now, would we?"

Samantha only shook her head, but without the laugh in her eyes anymore.

"No, we wouldn't want that."

Harry was fairly sure that at least today Snape would have no reason to criticize his potion. He had not thought about the wrath of his fellow Slytherin students.

While Harry and Samantha were busy cleaning up their working station, on the cauldron next to them Blaise Zabini was snickering with his partner Goyle. And in a moment when Harry and Samantha weren't paying attention to their cauldron, Blaise 'accidentally' slipped something into their cauldron. At first, nothing happened.

But only some moments later, the potion suddenly turned green and began to foam. The foam quickly rose towards the cauldron's rim, then spilled over it. With a cry of surprise, Samantha pulled her notebook away so that it would not get soiled by the potion. Hearing this, Snape turned around. His eyes grew wide and he quickly strode towards them.

"Ms. Lewis, Mr. Potter, what have you done this time?"

Harry just shook his head. They had done everything right, so what the heck was going on here?"  
"Nothing…nothing sir. We did everything as it was on the blackboard."  
"Mr. Potter, if you had done everything right, then this would not be happening. Have..."

Snape couldn't finish his sentence because at that moment, the potion exploded and flew into his face. Covered from head to toe in green slime, Snape gave them a look that spoke clearly of his desire to kill them. Nobody dared to laugh, though the image was just too ridiculous.

"Ms. Lewis, would you care to explain what has happened here? What has Potter done to the potion?"

Samantha looked up.

"Nothing sir, really. The potion was fine when we set it to simmer."

"Alright, that's enough. Detention, both of you. Tonight, eight o'clock. My office. You'll clean up this mess here then. And twenty points off, for each of you. Class dismissed, remember to leave me samples of your potion. Except Potter and Lewis, I guess I already have enough samples of your potion to last for a lifetime."

With this, Snape left the dungeons and headed for the upper part of the castle. Probably he was going to the hospital wing, Harry mused. The rest of the class filed out of the room, the Slytherins snickering at Harry and Samantha while the Gryffindors shot Harry compassionate looks.

Harry packed up his things and then helped Samantha to gather her things together.

"Sorry about that. I guess I did something wrong which we didn't realized."  
Samantha looked up.

"What makes you think that?"  
Harry just shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, I don't think that you did something wrong. You seemed to know perfectly well what you were doing, so I guess I blew it up. Literally."

Samantha laughed.

"Harry Potter, ever so modest. I don't think that you did something wrong. At least not something that could have caused this explosion. I rather guess that Blaise and Goyle are to blame, so I'm the one who should apologize. You lost points and got detention only because my housemates despise me."

Harry shouldered his backpack and waved her apology off.

"Don't worry about that. Snape loves to take points off me, he hates me with a passion. If it hadn't been the potion it would have been something else. Guess he wants to make my remaining time here as memorable as possible."

Samantha snickered at first, but seized it at Harry's last remark.

"I'm sorry about that expulsion."

"It was my own fault. Listen, I got to hurry now, or McGonagall will have my head. See you tonight, then. Bye."

"Yeah, bye Harry."

And while Samantha left for the greenhouses, Harry hurried off towards Transfiguration.

McGonagall's lesson was the second blow that morning. Harry lost the Gryffindors five more points because he didn't pay too much attention and turned his book into a cobra rather than into a lizard. Not necessary to mention that his classmates weren't pleasantly surprised by this. And though Harry in the end received ten points for the perfect Transfiguration once he properly concentrated, he only wanted to leave the classroom as soon as possible.

Skipping lunch, he headed to Gryffindor Tower and his dorm room to fetch his books for the afternoon lesson before Ron and Hermione could catch up with him. He planned to be long gone when they came up again after lunch.

Well, Harry clearly underestimated his friends this time. Only moments after Harry had closed the door of his dormitory behind him, it opened again and Ron and Hermione entered. Harry frowned. Hermione always refused to enter the boy's dormitory unless in case of emergency. After all, it was against the rules and she was still Hermione Granger, Hogwarts prefect.

Harry looked up from his trunk, grabbed his books and tried to hurry past his friends.

"See you later, I have to go."  
"I don't think so, Harry."  
With this, Hermione locked the door and grabbed Harry's wand before he even had time to react.

"What…hey! Give me my wand back right now, Hermione. I'm not in the mood for this!"

"Frankly Harry, I don't care. It won't take long, but you better sit down and listen to us."

Harry crossed his arms in front of his chest and made no movement to sit down. Ron stepped in front of Hermione and tried a somewhat softer approach.

"Harry, we're concerned about you. During the last two weeks you weren't yourself."

Harry only raised an eyebrow.

"I don't know what you're talking about."  
Ron chortled.

"Oh, for sure. Harry, you don't eat with us, you don't even talk to us. On the contrary, you avoid us whenever possible. Harry, you're shutting us out. We only want to help you, but you don't even let us get close to you anymore. We're your friends Harry, we only want to help you."

"What on earth do you want to help me with?"

Hermione pushed Ron aside a little.

"Harry, you've just been expelled. And with Sirius gone into hiding again, you don't have anybody to help you through this now. But we're here, talk to us about what bothers you."

Harry feverishly shook his head.

"There is nothing bothering me. I am expelled. Period. I'll have to live with it. Sirius is gone. Period. I'll have to live with it, he'll let me know when he has found a place where he's save. I've made a huge mistake and I've been punished for it. That's it, there's really nothing more to it. I'll get over with the rest of the time I have here and that's it, okay?"

"No Harry, that's not okay. Being expelled isn't something like getting a detention. You can't tell us that you're not worried about what will happen to you in the future. If it really weren't bothering you as you say then you wouldn't avoid mealtimes or stroll around in the castle till late at night."

Harry stared at Ron with eyes wide open. Ron only shook his head.  
"Did you really think I wouldn't realize that you've sneaked out of the dorm room ever night, hiding under the invisibility cloak? Harry, I don't know why you behave like you do, but it's no good for you. Let us help you."

Harry angrily ran a hand through his hair, messing it up even more than usual.

"What I do and what I don't is none of your business, alright? I'll be gone in a couple of months, better get used to the idea now. There's nothing you can do for me, there's nothing I want you to do for me except that you leave me alone, don't you get that?"

Hermione continued in her famous know-it-all tone, not the least bothered by Harry's last words.

"You can't tell us that you're not the least touched by everything that has happened. I know how much Sirius means to you, you can't tell me that his disappearance doesn't bother you at least a little. And neither can you tell me this about the fact that you won't be able to come back to Hogwarts. You have to go back to your relatives and we all know how much you hate them. Harry, we're your friends, we only want to help you."

"If you really want to help me then spare me your pity, alright? Everybody thinks you're so smart Hermione, I thought you'd be able to figure it out by now. I. Don't. Want. Your. Help. I don't need it, alright? I'll be gone soon and then you won't have to bother yourselves with me anymore. You'll have to live without me anyway, so why not start now? Just leave me alone, alright? I don't want your pity, I don't want your help, and to be bluntly honest, at the moment I neither want your friendship. I only want to be alone, and if you really cared for me as much as you pretend, then you'd understand that."

With this, he grabbed his wand out of Hermione's hand, unlocked the door and bolted from the room. Ron wanted to run after him, but Hermione held him back.

"Let him go."

Ron looked at her as if she had just proposed to invite Malfoy for a party.

"But…Mione, you've heard him."

She nodded.

"Yes, and so have you. He doesn't want us to help him. He'll come when he's ready for it."  
"Oh, and he thinks we'll be waiting patiently for him until he's finished wallowing in his self-pity?"

Hermione sighed.

"I can understand what you feel like, but I don't think we'll get very far if we continue this right now. He'll only block us out more. Give him time."  
"Time? Hermione, we don't have time! In a couple of months, he'll be gone in case you haven't noticed. I won't allow him to leave like that."

"Ron, I guess there's nothing we can do about it. He's the one who has to come to us. At least let's wait some time until we try to make him talk again."

Slowly and very hesitantly, Ron nodded.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Harry ran out of Gryffindor Tower towards the small hidden room where he had had breakfast that morning. That had been just what he had needed today, Ron and Hermione discovering their undying friendship towards him. Didn't those two realize that their life would be far easier if they weren't his friends? Didn't they realize how dangerous it was to be around him, especially now with Voldemort back in power? 

Harry had just recently driven his godfather away from Hogwarts because he had put his life into danger and Ron and Hermione still wanted to be around him? 

Not if Harry could prevent it, that much was for certain. It would be far easier for all of them if they got used to the new situation as soon as possible. Harry wouldn't be around for much longer, so why should Hermione and Ron still bother about him?

In his anger, the thought that Ron and Hermione did behave like they did because they were his friends, something which would not stop even if Harry would eventually leave Hogwarts, didn't even cross his mind.

Instead, he spent the entire afternoon pacing across the small room, thinking about various 'what ifs' for his future. It had become some kind of mental sport for Harry during the last couple of weeks. Imagining scenarios of what could happen to him after leaving Hogwarts. Beauxbatons was only one of them, but today his mind travelled to far darker ideas. He could not hide with Sirius, not now that his godfather was so angry with him. And Sirius had deserved far better than Harry as a godson. After all he had been through, Sirius deserved some rest. Not only physically, but also and far more important, emotionally. He didn't need a godson to worry about. When Harry had been born and Sirius had been asked to become his godfather, nobody had imagined this job to be so dangerous. No, Harry decided that Sirius would be far better off alone without him. Maybe in a couple of weeks it would be safe enough for him to return to Professor Lupin, the two men had deserved some time out to catch up on all that had happened.

During his hours of brooding, Harry didn't even realized that he missed Herbology and he didn't even care about it when he checked his watch. Another grade that went downhill, it had good company there. 

At seven, Harry left the room and visited dobby in the kitchen to grab something to eat. The little house elf was positively delighted to see him again so soon and Harry had a hard time to get out of the kitchen again when it was time for his detention. 

At eight sharp he knocked on the door to the potions classroom and waited for Snape to bid him in. 

"Come in."

Harry entered the room, Snape's voice already telling him more than he wanted to know about the Potions master's mood tonight. When Harry looked at him he immediately knew why. 

Snape's face was all red, like a cooked lobster, and everywhere where the potion had hit him his skin looked new and sore. Just like the skin looked after burn injuries, Harry thought. Though he knew that he had not done anything wrong, at least not on purpose, he could not help but feel a little guilty. Truly, he hated Snape nearly as much as the man hated him, but those wounds on his face looked painful.

Snape only nodded as he saw Harry entering the classroom. Samantha was already sitting on a desk.

"Kind of you to show up eventually, Potter. You and Ms. Lewis will clean up the mess you've created here this morning, and when you're finished with this, you'll clean up those cauldrons over there. Without magic. Give me your wand."  
Snape stretched out one long fingered hand and Harry reluctantly handed his wand over. 

"Wouldn't want you to cheat now, would we? I expect the work to be done until midnight, I'll be in my office. Though I wouldn't advice you to disturb me unless it's absolutely necessary. Except if you want to repeat tonight's experience again tomorrow."

Snape grabbed Harry's wand and without another word left for his office. When the door closed behind him, Harry let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding.

"Phew, I thought he'd be even more pissed off than he already was. That looked painful."  
Samantha nodded.

"It was…I guess. But he'll live, he just likes to make a big deal out of it. Let's get started, shall we?"

Harry nodded and grabbed a bucked with cleaning utensils from a corner of the room.

"Yeah, the faster we start this, the faster we'll be out of here again. This dungeon gives me the creeps."

Samantha grabbed a brush and laughed.

"You get used to dungeons after a while. Believe me."

"You won't tell me that the dungeons at Beauxbatons are as bad as these. No way. And no way that potions there is as horrible as it is here."

Samantha shook her head.

"Actually, Beauxbatons doesn't have dungeons at all. It's not a castle like Hogwarts, it's just a huge old mansion. There are slightly few students there than here, but we had potions in a lab in the tower and it was rather nice."

Harry whistled. That didn't sound too bad.

"You know, I've thought about going to Beauxbatons in after the summer, in case they want me there. Could you tell me a little what it's like?"

Samantha looked up from the desk she'd been scrubbing and smiled.

"Sure, why not?"

And so, while scrubbing desks and cauldrons, Samantha answered all of Harry's questions about Beauxbatons. He was more than relieved to hear that he didn't even need to learn French if he really went there. Samantha herself didn't speak it perfectly, but with the help of some translating spells it was fairly easy to get along in France. During those four hours of cleaning, the idea of going to the other wizarding school didn't sound too strange anymore. From what Samantha told, Beauxbatons was quite a nice place to live at. When they were finished and left the dungeons, after Snape had controlled their work and grumpily agreed to let them leave, Harry asked what had been on his mind ever since Samantha had told him about her old school with a sad smile in her eyes.

"Samantha, if you liked it so much at Beauxbatons, why did you exchange to Hogwarts?"

Samantha shrugged and a sad smile played across her face. She was actually really pretty, Harry realized.

"Well, with the Dark Lord incarnated again, my father got concerned that something might happen there. He was concerned that I might be in danger, so he organized the exchange. Father trusts Dumbledore, and he thought the safest place for me would be here."

Harry nodded. He understood, many other people were only calm to have their children go to a boarding school in times like these because they knew Hogwarts provided them with a protection that was fairly hard to break. Well, at least till that attack two weeks ago.

"I see. Well, it's pretty late, I guess I should go back to my dormitory before I get another detention for strolling in the castle after curfew. Good night Samantha."

She smiled at him.

"Good night, Harry."

Samantha turned left towards the Slytherin Common Room, while Harry started to climb the stairs to Gryffindor tower. A small smile tucked at the corners of his lips. He'd go and talk to Hagrid about Madame Maxime as soon as possible. Beauxbatons sounded like a very good alternative to Hogwarts, he'd have to get things start moving soon. 

This night, Harry directly went into his dormitory and his bed. No night-time strolls this night. Harry now at least had something like a perspective, and though it meant leaving all his friends behind, he knew that on the long distance it would be better for all of them.


End file.
